Here they're saying they have not
IDENTIFIED the body
YET -
Woman's body found in Calumet City
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...sep28,0,1170707.story?coll=chi_features_promo
By Jeremy Gorner and Lolly Bowean | Tribune staff reporters
10:26 AM CDT, September 27, 2007
The body of a woman was found this morning in an area of Calumet City where police have been searching for Nailah Franklin, a Chicago woman missing for about a week.
Patrol officers found an unclothed body early this morning behind several vacant businesses at River Oaks Drive and Gold Coast Lane, near the Wentworth Woods Forest Preserve. Dozens of investigators with Calumet City police, Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner's office were on the scene this morning.
The identity of the woman was not being released, but several of Franklin's relatives were on the scene awaiting word.
Dwayne Johnson, Franklin's uncle, said the entire family was "in prayer right now."
"We're still on our knees," Johnson said. "We're hoping that body is not Nailah, but it's somebody we need to pray for; this is somebody's loved one."
Johnson said many of Franklin's family members, including her five sisters and brother, had gathered at a family home to comfort one another.
Andre Wright, Franklin's boyfriend, said he was heading to Calumet City to wait for more information. "I'm just hoping it's not her," he said.
Also at the scene were dozens of people who say they feel a connection to the Franklin family and were concerned that the body would turn out to be her.
Authorities have been searching the Calumet City area over the last several days for Franklin, 28, who was reported missing Sept. 19 after failing to show up for a business meeting. Her car was found abandoned in Hammond on Saturday.
Franklin, a pharmaceuticals representative who lived in Chicago's University Village near the University of Illinois at Chicago campus, had filed a police report about threatening phone calls she received from a man she dated briefly. Since her disappearance, family members have been papering the city with fliers. Her family also offered a $10,000 reward for information on her whereabouts and set up a Web site aimed at generating leads.
Franklin was last heard from Sept. 18, when she called her boyfriend in Milwaukee. Three vague text messages from her phone later that night indicated she was having dinner and would call her family and boss back. They didn't hear from her again.
Franklin works for Eli Lilly & Co. She is a graduate of Homewood-Flossmoor High School and has a bachelor's degree in advertising from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
jgorner@tribune.com