Deceased Rock Island boy may have been missing for months
Local 4 News has learned of new developments in the case of a woman accused of hiding her 10-year-old son’s death.
Rock Island County court documents indicate he may have been missing for several months until Rock Island Police found his body in a trash can.
Earlier, police arrested Sushi Staples, 37, on several charges, including the concealment of Zion Staples’ death. Court documents allege she knew her son was dead in December, and she put him in the trash can.
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Local 4 News spoke Wednesday with Rock Island-Milan School District administrators, who say Zion was not enrolled in the district. We also called the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to see whether they had any open investigations involving the family, and have no response as of Wednesday afternoon.
The incident
The boy’s death is “considered suspicious and not natural,” Rock Island County Coroner Brian Gustafson told Local 4 News.
“Due to the “extreme initiation of this investigation,” no further information was available at that time. An autopsy was performed in Rockford, Gustafson said.
Sushi Staples, 37, who was arrested in connection with the incident, is being held on $500,000 bond in Rock Island County Jail. She faces charges of obstruction of justice/destroy evidence, failure to report the death of a child under 13/24 hours, and conceal death/move body, court records show.
She is set to appear Aug. 15 in Rock Island County Court.
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