Questions remain unanswered after Mount Carroll man dies

MT. CARROLL, Ill. (KWQC) – Monday marked three months without answers in the death of an 18-year-old man who was found on a roadway near Mount Carroll.

What started out as an ordinary July Saturday evening in Mount Carroll ended in tragedy. And now a family and community reeling from the young man’s mysterious death are still waiting for answers as the investigation enters its fourth month.

The man’s aunt, Cindy Sisler, saw him at her home the evening before his death, celebrating his retirement from the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office after 27 years with the department.

“You hope you get an answer, you find a solution to this problem,” Sisler said. “Many sleepless nights. I mean, I have a lot of sleepless nights. I can’t imagine what his dad and his mom are going through. To lose a child like that.”

The man’s father, Joshua Sisler, is growing increasingly frustrated with the investigation.

“The state police aren’t even keeping me informed about all of this,” Sisler said. “I haven’t spoken to them in a couple of months, it’s just really hard, I don’t know if he’s going to get justice or not, or what really happened.”

It all stems from an incident that occurred in the early morning hours of July 28, when the Carroll Sheriff’s Office said they received a report of a body in the roadway around 3:30 a.m.

Here is the transcript from the Carroll County dispatch center:

“We received a report of a body at 78 and Louden Road,” the dispatcher said. “Keep in mind, my interlocutor claims that he has blood and brain matter.”

A body found in the area around the same time was later identified by Illinois State Police as West Carroll High School Class of 2024 graduate Jackson Cradle, who had recently turned 18 years old.

3 months later: no answers about man found dead on roadway near Mount Carroll — 3 months later: No answers about man found dead on roadway near Mount Carroll(KVKK)

What about the caller who reported seeing this body on the road?

Last week, TV6 filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Carroll Sheriff to obtain all 9-1-1 calls from the night Cradle was found dead on Illinois Highway 78 near North Lowden Road.

And as it turns out, whoever found Cradle’s body didn’t call 9-1-1.

TV6 received recordings of six calls from that night, and none of them contained anything about the discovery of the body.

On Monday, TV6 contacted the Illinois State Police special agent in charge of the case to see if he could identify the caller.

He had not responded as of Monday evening.

Cradle’s friends are holding another protest outside the ISP Troop 1 headquarters in Sterling on Tuesday starting at 11 a.m.