The discovery of a man's body parts found wrapped in plastic and a blanket Sunday in a garage in Chicago's Hegewisch neighborhood may be a significant clue in an Indiana missing person's case.
Police say the victim, believed to be 51-year-old Milan Lekich, was found dead at about 3:20 p.m. in the 13300 block of South Avenue M. It was also his last reported address.
The body was discovered after a woman reported a strange smell coming from the garbage in the garage, according to a police source. She looked inside a garbage bag and found the man’s remains.
A woman who lives inside the home refused to comment on the case, but neighbors say they've had reason to believe Lekich was alive -- until now.
"All they've been getting is text messaging from him, on his phone, so whoever killed him has his phone and had been text messaging back to him but not leaving any voicemail," neighbor Stanley Charles said.
NBC 5 found Lekich's distraught sister in a southwest suburb. She said she's been trying to find the former Ford plant electrician for almost two years, but she declined to be interviewed, saying "this is more convoluted than you can ever imagine."
Lekich was recently officially reported missing, but neighbors say he hasn't been seen since the summer of 2013.
Lekich once shared the Hegewisch home with his wife, 49-year-old Teresa Jarding. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Jarding and Lekich married in 2013, months before her divorce to a Cook County corrections officer was finalized.
Jarding died of a brain hemorrhage two weeks ago in Fowler, Indiana, in a home she was sharing with her 68-year-old mother, Nena Metoyer.
And now Metoyer is now missing, and police aren't sure where she went.
"Every answer we get comes with a dozen questions," Fowler Police Det. Don Moyars said.
Moyors said they are hoping to find and speak with the Metoyer, but he said realistically they may be looking for another body.
No arrests have been made in Lekich's death.
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