Human Bones On Patterson Road Are Not Wendy Gessing

Joliet IL

03 March, 2022

2:30 PM

Description

JOLIET, IL — Last week's discovery of a human skull and several bones along a wooded area of Joliet's Patterson Road were not 50-year-old missing Crest Hill resident Wendy Gessing, according to the Crest Hill Police Department. Last Friday, Gessing's long-time boyfriend. Scott Harris, told Joliet Patch that he had reached out to a Crest Hill detective, inquiring whether the human remains discovered days earlier might belong to his missing girlfriend. Last June, Gessing vanished on a Saturday evening in the middle of her work shift at the Pizzas By Marchelloni carryout and delivery restaurant at the corner of Raynor Avenue and Theodore Street. Her vehicle was found a few days later in the 400 block of Joliet's Buell Avenue. On Thursday, Crest Hill Police Chief Ed Clark said that Gessing's family and friends have been made aware that the remains discovered on Patterson Road were not a match. During last week's interview, Harris said the police have had Gessing's dental records for several months in the event that her body was found. Harris said he didn't know if the human remains would not turn out to be his missing girlfriend, given the location where the remains were found. "I hope not. There is no reason for her to be down there," Harris told Joliet Patch last week. This week, the Will County Coroner's Office of Laurie Summers announced that the human bones found on Patterson Road on Feb. 23 are being sent to the University of Illinois Forensic Anthropology division for additional studies, including the age and sex of the remains. The DNA testing will be handled by the Will County Sheriff's Office, she indicated. The case has also been sent to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and the Will County Coroner's Office "urges family of missing individuals to contact their local law enforcement agencies to give a DNA sample," she announced. In November 2020, Joliet Patch published a story revealing there are 17 people missing in Will County, the oldest case being that of Molly Zelko, who vanished from her driveway on Buell Avenue in 1957. Related Patch coverage: 17 Missing In Will County: One Joliet Case Dates To 1957 Bones Found: Wendy Gessing's Boyfriend Waits For Answers