The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office has identified the body of a woman found inside a vehicle in Forest Park on Wednesday as Alicia H. Yaus, an Oak Park woman who went missing on Saturday, Nov. 28.
But it could take weeks to determine the cause of Yaus’ death, due to the amount of time it will take to complete a toxicology examination to test for drugs in her system, the medical examiner said.
However, Forest Park Police Chief Tom Aftanas said on Friday that “prescription drugs are suspected” as being involved in her death and that the medical examiner’s office was investigating Yaus’ death “as a suicide pending toxicology.”
Forest Park police have obtained a search warrant for Yaus’ vehicle, and Aftanas said police would conduct that search on Friday.
Yaus, 48, of the 500 block of Forest Avenue, was found dead on Dec. 2 in her Volvo XC709 station wagon, which was parked in a secluded area of Forest Park behind a building in an industrial area in the 1500 block of Circle Avenue.
According to Forest Park Deputy Police Chief Michael Keating, a business owner called police at about 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday after discovering the vehicle parked among a number of other vehicles along the former railroad right-of-way that used to run behind the buildings on Circle Avenue.
The incident is classified now as a death investigation that will be conducted by Forest Park police with the assistance of Oak Park police.
Bob Uphues contributed to this report.
CONTACT: tim@oakpark.com
