6 years, no arrests in tragic death of Sema’j Crosby in Joliet Township home

It’s been six years since a 17-month-old infant was found dead at a Joliet Township residence littered with trash, and no arrests have been made in connection with her death, which is deemed a homicide.

Sema’j Crosby was reported missing April 25, 2017, and her lifeless body was found several days later under a legless couch at her residence at 309 Louis Road. The residence mysteriously burned down May 6, 2017.

The Will County Coroner’s Office ruled Crosby’s death a homicide and said she died by suffocation.

Someone who was at Crosby’s residence was responsible for her death, Will County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Dan Jungles said. He said it’s been hard for detectives to solve the case because of “various different obstacles in front of us.”

“You’ve got family members covering up for other family members. It’s disheartening for the detectives that work the case and involved in the case to try to bring that to a conclusion because of that fact,” Jungles said.

At a community meeting in 2017, sheriff’s Detective R.J. Austin, the lead investigator on the Crosby case, identified four women who know “exactly what happened to Sema’j and know how she got under that couch.”

Those women include Crosby’s mother Sheri Gordon, her aunt Lakerisha Crosby, her grandmother Darlene Crosby, and Tamika Robinson, Darlene’s friend. A minor who has not been publicly identified has been considered by police as a person of interest in the case.

Gordon and Darlene Crosby did not respond to calls this week seeking interviews.

Jungles said the case remains active and has not run cold because they still are working on it and receiving tips. At this point, the sheriff’s office has been reanalyzing evidence and seeing whether any advances in technology could help solve the case, he said.

The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the Crosby case.

Last year, Sema’j Crosby’s family received a settlement of more than $6.4 million in their wrongful death lawsuit against Children’s Home & Aid, a contractor for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, over claims of negligence in their handling of the Crosby case.

After six years, Crosby’s godmother, LaToya Robinson, said, “I’m still heartbroken nothing has been done.”

In 2017, Robinson formed the Justice for Sema’j Action Committee to seek justice for Sema’j Crosby and support her siblings.

This week, Robinson said she cannot fault the police, as they “took action immediately.”

“The people who were at the house that day know exactly what happened,” she said.

Jungles said that as a matter of internal policy, they never close any homicide case until there is an arrest, a death of an offender or the state’s attorney’s office declines to prosecute the case.

He said the sheriff’s office has been successful throughout the years developing leads on cases that have gone cold, and they’ve been working on cases from the 1970s they are hoping to close out because of advances in technology.

Jungles said it’s the job of the sheriff’s office to bring “conclusion to the family of the victim.”

“We don’t take that for granted. We work these cases until they can’t be worked anymore,” he said.

Robinson said she is hopeful that advances in forensics and technology will help solve the Sema’j Crosby case.

“As far as relying on people to do the right thing, it will never happen,” she said.