(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A handful of people who tried for years to identify one of the state’s living “John Does” gathered Tuesday afternoon to honor one of those men.
They assembled — in person and on Zoom — to remember a man who died exactly one year ago. He lived at a nursing home in Northlake.
He called himself Robert Rockefeller, and he was a John Doe, a dementia patient whose real identity was unknown to his state guardian or to anyone else — perhaps including himself.
Among those paying tribute: Tam Tran of the state guardian’s office.
“He could’ve ended up at any one of the other nursing homes that accepted charity cases, but he ended up at one of the best ones all-around, in my opinion,” Tran said. “He definitely had an angel looking out for him.”
Also speaking: Sue Olsen, who tried to find clues to Robert Rockefeller’s true identity in the years since her own son disappeared in 2007.
“It’s very important that we tried to identify Robert. I believe that he wanted to be identified. And I’m certain his family would love to know what happened to him.”
Only one person in Illinois is now believed to be a living John Doe.
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