Police Identify Body Of Missing Woman

Friday, September 28th 2007, 2:37 pm

By: News On 6

CHICAGO (AP) _ A badly decomposed body found behind several vacant businesses in Calumet City this week is that of a Chicago woman reported missing nine days ago, authorities said Friday.

Dental records were used to identify the body of Nailah Franklin, 28, who was reported missing Sept. 19 after she didn't show up for a work meeting, Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond said. The cause of death has not been determined, though forensic evidence was still being processed, Bond said.

The woman's unclothed body was discovered Thursday not far from where her car was found in Hammond, Ind., last week.

Family members declined to comment Friday afternoon at the home of Franklin's sister.

Bond said investigators have not determined where the woman died, and department investigators are working with the FBI and Calumet City police. She said the case is being characterized as a death investigation, not a homicide investigation, because the cause of death had not yet been determined.

Franklin, a sales representative for Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly, had recently filed a police report about threatening phone calls she received from a man she dated briefly. Chicago police have said they have interviewed someone Franklin dated, but have not named a suspect in her disappearance.

Her disappearance triggered a frantic search. Family members and volunteers papered the city with fliers, took out a newspaper ad seeking the public's help and launched a Web site. The family also offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts.