Police draining Chicago lagoon after child’s body parts found

Crews on Wednesday began draining a lagoon in a Chicago park where a toddler's head, feet and hands were found last weekend as police search for more remains and evidence, the Associated Press reported.

The draining process started Tuesday and police said it could take at least two days. 

Authorities believe body parts found belonged to a black or mixed race toddler, they said on Tuesday. The child most likely was between 2 and 3 years old, Frank Shuftan, a spokesman for the Cook County Bureau of Administration said.

They have not been able to determine whether the decomposed body parts found belonged to a boy or girl, police said in a joint news release with the medical examiner's office. Investigators have DNA, dental evidence, fingerprints and footprints that need to be examined.

"The victim was most likely an African-American child (though mixed race heritage cannot be excluded) between 18 months and 4 years of age (best estimate 2-3 years old)," authorities said.

After a human foot was discovered Saturday in the Garfield Park lagoon, searchers recovered the head, two hands, and another foot of a child, the police department and the city's medical examiner's office have said.

Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Monday that searchers also found a plastic bag that was brought to a lab to be opened in a sterile environment. Guglielmi said he believes the remains were somehow separated from the bag.

Parts of the park, which is centrally located near Chicago's New West Side, were still closed Tuesday.

Reviewjournal.com reporter Kristen DeSilva contributed to this report.