The body of a 23-year-old man who was last seen on Christmas Eve was found Tuesday near a South Side Chicago park, according to police and family members.
Authorities said a man's body was found just after noon in the 1200 block of East 83rd Street near Avalon Park. Family members and the Cook County Medical Examiner's office confirmed the body found behind a set of tennis courts was Iaron Brooks.
An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday, according to the medical examiner's office.
Brooks, of the 7800 block of South Shore Drive, went missing Dec. 24 from the city’s Avalon Park neighborhood after he was seen getting into a car with a group of unknown men, according to family and friends.
“There's nothing that I can do but to plead and ask somebody that knows something to help me and give me my son,” Bonnette Jernigan, Brooks’ mother, said.
Other than a couple of cryptic and anonymous phone calls that did not lead anywhere, the family had heard nothing on the whereabouts of Brooks for nearly two months after his disappearance.
“He has not been on social media,” Jernigan said. “He has not been on Twitter. He has everything, Facebook, everything.”
Local
Brooks, the father of a 3-year-old girl, is described by family members as a devoted dad who stepped up as the head of the household after his own father died.
“All I want is my son,” Jernigan said. “Either way, so we can move on.”
Anyone with information is being asked to call Area South detectives at (312) 747-8274.
