Killing of Atcel Olmedo

In October 2005, a small, severely decomposed body was discovered in an unincorporated area alongside the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway (Interstate 88), between Naperville and Warrenville, Illinois. The remains were wrapped in a blue laundry bag and dressed in a blue button-down collared shirt and matching pants. Due to prolonged exposure to the elements—possibly up to a year—the body was unrecognizable. The DuPage County medical examiner determined the remains belonged to a Hispanic, Native American, or Asian male between three and five years old with black hair; his eye color and cause of death could not be determined. In October 2007, the child, still unidentified, was buried in a donated cemetery plot following a graveside service.

Investigators traced the child's clothing, a Walmart-exclusive brand called Faded Glory, and obtained purchase records from a nearby Naperville store, though one cash transaction could not be traced. Footprints were compared against area hospital records without a match. Isotope analysis suggested the boy had lived in Illinois for most or all of his life, and that his mother had spent most of her pregnancy in the northern part of the continent. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children prioritized the case in 2005, cross-referencing evidence with at least 12 missing boys from Illinois and elsewhere in the United States, and produced multiple 2D, 3D, and digital facial reconstructions. The case was featured on America's Most Wanted and Without a Trace.

Atcel Olmedo was born in November 2002 in Mexico. In 2003, he and his five siblings were left with relatives while their mother and stepfather moved to the United States. Between 2004 and early 2005, his mother arranged for him and one sibling to join her in the U.S. In late 2005, the mother and stepfather returned to Mexico without Atcel, telling the other children he had gone to live with his biological father; the siblings were beaten whenever his name was mentioned. The sibling who had lived with Atcel in the U.S. recalled last seeing him being driven away in the back seat of a vehicle belonging to a friend of the stepfather.

In 2006, the family entered the United States illegally and settled in Cicero, Illinois. In early 2008, police investigating an unrelated child abuse case began to suspect a link to "DuPage Johnny Doe." The oldest sibling urged police to investigate, revealing that in 2006 the stepfather's mother told her Atcel had been murdered about a month before his third birthday, allegedly as a result of abuse by his mother and stepfather. DNA comparison identified the remains as Atcel's; the family learned of the identification through news reports in February 2011 and visited his previously unmarked grave the following day, later adding his name to the headstone.

The mother declined to answer questions about Atcel during a May 2008 interview. The stepfather, arrested more than a dozen times under various aliases between 2000 and 2007 in DuPage and Cook counties, faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted of identity fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Both suspects, who have not been officially charged, disappeared after being released on bond and are believed to have fled to the Mexico City area. The investigation remains open, with U.S. and Mexican authorities involved in efforts to locate the couple and related records. An $11,000 reward has been offered for information leading to their arrest.