Pekin teen’s remains identified months after being found

Posted on September 23, 2017
Police car
The body of a teen who ran away from home almost a year ago has been identified. (Photo by DavidsonScott/flickr)

By WMBD-TV

TAZEWELL – The remains of a boy who ran away from his home in Pekin last year have been identified in Tazewell County.

Tazewell County Coroner James Baldi confirmed early Saturday that remains found in rural Tazewell County in July belonged to missing teenager, Robert Bee, Jr.

Bee was 13 when he ran away from home in November 2016, when being visited by a truancy officer. The remains were found on July 24 less than two miles away. A man discovered the skeletal remains while mowing his property near Route 29. Investigators believe the remains were in the woods behind the property, but some were moved by animals onto the man’s property.

Dental records matched Bee’s, but Dr. Baldi was waiting on the results of DNA testing at the Illinois State Police Crime Lab to positively identify him. There’s no word on a cause of death.

Pekin Police, the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office, Illinois State Police, and the Tazewell County Coroner are still investigating this case.

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