A sad and tragic discovery was made when officers found the body of a 10-year old boy inside a garbage can in his mother’s garage.
The Rock Island Police Department in Illinois launched a search into a suspicious death at the home last week. Officers then found the body of Zion Staples and reported that the boy had been dead for 7 months.
The child’s mother, Sushi Staples, 37, was charged with concealment of a death, failure to report the death of a child under 13 and obstruction of justice.
The body was concealed in a garbage bin inside a garage. Rock Island County Coroner Brian Gustafson conducted the autopsy in Rockford, Ill., and said the preliminary results indicate that the boy’s death is suspicious.
“Due to the extreme initiation of the investigation, no further information will be available at this time,” he said.
A neighbor talking to a news reporter said she was shocked and actually quite curious as to what led the police to search for the boy in the first place after such a long time.
“I had a dead raccoon in my backyard, and we put it in a garbage can, I mean, in a garbage bag and then put it in a garbage can,” she said. “I couldn’t even stand the smell waiting for garbage day. So I can’t imagine, that with the wind directions, that nobody would smell that.”
A woman whose tip led authorities to find the body talked to news media and asked to remain completely anonymous.
The anonymous source said, “I contacted the Department of Children and Family Services multiple times in the last few months because Staples was saying strange things about her son. She told me on Jan. 3 that Christmas would never be the same again. Finally my call on July 25 actually made police take notice and make a welfare check.”
Andrew and Danielle Builta, neighbors who moved in last month, noted that it seemed like a happy family lived at Staples’ house.
“We saw two girls. You know, coming sometimes, like out in the yard,” Danielle said. “I saw them drawing with chalk in the back driveway.”
“Playing with scooters out in front of the garage, everything seemed really normal,” Andrew added. “Knowing what was in their garage, just about 30 feet from us is rather scary to think about.”
Staples appeared in court last Friday and is being held on a $500,000 bond with a preliminary hearing set for August 15.
Anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact the Rock Island Police Department at 309-732-2677, Crime Stoppers at 309-762-9500 or the P3 Tips app.
