Updated on: December 31, 2024 / 9:57 AM CST / CBS Chicago
Add CBS News on GoogleCHICAGO (CBS) — A woman's son was trapped in a garage when it caught fire on Christmas Day. She says despite pleas to first responders to help find him, she had to make the tragic and gruesome discovery herself. Now, she's demanding answers.
Wesley Freeman's mom wants to know why she was the one to discover her son's body a full four days later.
"I had to beg them to come back to help me look for my son," said Michelle Murray.
"They would not come back out here to do nothing, and she looking for him in every hospital, the morgue, and everything," said Keith Kernell, Freeman's uncle.
It's been a roller coaster of emotions for Michele Murray since Christmas morning when a fire broke out around 3 a.m. in the 9400 block of South LaSalle Street. Her 34-year-old son, Wesley Freeman, had been staying there but she said police and the fire department assured her that they had checked the garage and he was not there.
Thinking he had made it out alive, Murray started calling relatives and hospitals—even filing a missing person's report with Chicago police.
"I'm feeling good each time I called the fire department and the police department, because they constantly telling me that it was no one there, that they checked and no one's there," Murray said.
When there was still no sign of Freeman on Sunday, she came back to the scene herself.
"I walked on the edge and he was over in there. Where that spring is," she said.
And that's when she found his body in plain sight.
"It hurts. It hurts a lot. He was there for all them days, and I'm running around calling all these different places, and he's right here the whole time," she said tearfully.
Police said the death is currently under investigation, and they can't comment any further on this case.
Larry Langford with The Chicago Fire Department responded by saying he felt it was "unlikely" the body could he been seen from the alley, and the fire crew responsible for the search effort returned for a "detailed search" and had to move debris to locate the body.
"CFD is saddened by the fact a fire victim was not found at the fire while it was being put out and an investigation is underway to get more details on how that transpired," Langford said.
The fire department was asked if and when the garage was searched, but there was no response as of Monday afternoon.
"I can't hardly take it. I'm so sorry," said Shady Hubbard, grandfather.
The family says they need their questions answered.
"There's grown people, babies, mothers, fathers, uncles, aunties. Make sure there's no one in it left behind," Murray said.
Chicago police detectives and the Department of Buildings were at the scene on Monday. An official cause of death is pending from the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.
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