Elderly South Side Man Missing Since July Found Dead Near Markham

Photo: Mateo Fernandez, 78, missing from Chicago’s West Lawn neighborhood since July 17, has been found deceased.

A 78-year-old West Lawn man who has been missing since last month was found deceased late Thursday afternoon in Markham.

Mateo Fernandez left his home in the Chicago’s West Lawn neighborhood sometime during the overnight hours of July 17. Fernandez was diabetic and had other health issues that made him a high-risk missing person.

The man’s son, Ricardo Fernandez, said that the Cook County Medical Examiner confirmed his father’s identity on Friday afternoon. He did not know how his father died, but said that the medical examiner’s office was working with Stroger Hospital, where his father went for treatment.

Mystery Deepens Over Missing South Side Elderly Man

Ricardo Fernandez said that his father’s body was found near 160th Street and Pulaski Road, about a block away from where a couple had last seen his father alive on July 21.

The younger Fernandez said his father was was found in some shrubs and small trees at the edge of a forest preserve. Authorities worked for several hours on Thursday evening to cut away the brush so that his father’s body could be brought out.

“We’re not sure how he was found,” Ricardo Fernandez said. ”We don’t know if he was found by someone cleaning at the side of road. We are still trying to digest the news.”

The family still does not know why Mateo Fernandez left his home near Karlov and 62nd Street after he was last seen by his son watching television around 10:30 p.m. in his bedroom on July 16.

“I’m not sure we’ll ever know,” Ricardo said, who was planning to go out and distribute more missing persons fliers for his father this weekend. “Now I got to tell my kids that their grandfather is dead.”