Illinois Police Investigating After Missing Teen Found Dead In Mushroom Field

Police in Illinois are investigating after a missing teen was found dead last month.

Illinois State Police confirmed on Tuesday that the body of Haley Marie Decker, 18, had been found in Pulaski County on March 26, The Southern Illinoisan reports. Decker was reported missing from Normal, Illinois after having last been seen alive on January 22, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. However, she’d recently moved to the southeast area of Missouri, according to The Southern Illinoisan.

Details regarding her disappearance have not been made public, but police have deemed her death a homicide, local outlet The Pantagraph reports. Authorities have not revealed how the young woman was killed.

“We don’t know a whole lot,” Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner told the outlet. “She was reported missing out of Normal. We did some tracking and found out that she was in southeast Missouri, near Sikeston, I believe. Our report stayed open and pending.”

Haley Marie Decker Photo: Facebook

Decker’s body was found abandoned in a mushroom field, local station WMBD reports. The discovery left her family in shock, with Decker’s aunt telling the station that she hopes her niece’s killer or killers “spend the rest of their years rotting in prison.”

“Haley was a small girl, and to think that someone would do something to a girl that small,” Jenny Randall said. “All I want to know is why?”

Authorities are still investigating. A police spokesperson has confirmed that they do not believe that Decker’s death points to any kind of general threat to the public, according to The Southern Illinoisan.

Authorities are asking that anyone with information related to Decker’s disappearance and death reach out to them by contacting the Illinois State Police Zone 7 Investigations at 618-542-2171 and dialing extension 1207.