Family Discovers Body of Missing 24-Year-Old in Dixmoor
A harrowing search for 24-year-old Aaron Neal, a missing Chicago man, came to a tragic end when his family discovered his body on the side of a road in Dixmoor, a suburb south of Chicago. The discovery was made on Wednesday, days after Neal was last seen alive. His family, overwhelmed with grief, reported that they had been searching for him since Saturday, with their worst fears confirmed when they found his lifeless body.
Aaron Neal was last spotted on surveillance footage on Saturday night, leaving his grandmother's home in the West Englewood neighborhood. He had entered a white car, but after that, communication with him ceased. His concerned family reported him missing after hours passed without any word from him. With no clear leads initially, the search began.
The search efforts were spearheaded by Neal’s family, who combed through the areas where he was last seen, hoping for any sign of their loved one. Family friend Brandy Martin, who helped organize the search, noted that the family worked tirelessly to track him down. Martin kept the community updated through daily posts about the ongoing search. “They started searching on Monday,” she said, recalling the days spent desperately seeking answers.
It wasn’t until Wednesday afternoon, near the Dixmoor Playfield, that the search took its devastating turn. The family discovered Neal’s body lying on the side of Thornton Road near Ashland Avenue, just as they had feared. It was an emotionally charged scene. “I saw family members on the left side of the road, running, and they were screaming: ‘We found him! We found him! We found him!’” Martin recounted.
According to Martin, the gruesome discovery was compounded by the sight of several shell casings near the body. “From what I could see, it looked like maybe two to three gunshots to the back,” she revealed. It was Neal’s family, not the authorities, who made the grim discovery. “They found him in the middle of the road themselves—not the police, the family found him,” Martin stressed, highlighting the family’s frustration with how long the search had taken, despite police involvement.
This sense of frustration was echoed by other family members. Shaka Ford, Neal’s aunt, expressed her dismay over the outcome, particularly since the family had been searching for days in the same area where Neal’s body was ultimately found. “Being out here for four days searching, looking for my nephew, and then finding him exactly where we’ve been looking for four days is disappointing,” she said, adding that they had been searching alongside law enforcement.
Adding to the family’s anguish was a major break in the case—a fisherman reportedly found Neal’s phone in recent days. This crucial discovery, however, came too late to save him. The phone might provide additional clues, but for Neal’s grieving family, the damage has already been done.
Neal’s sister, Aliyaah Simons, was heartbroken at the loss of her brother. “I’m just broken,” she said through tears. “I’m sad that I’m never going to see my brother again.” Her words echoed the deep sorrow of a family struggling to comprehend their sudden and painful loss.
As the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office moves to formally identify Neal’s body, his family continues to grapple with their grief, and the community mourns the young man whose life was cut tragically short. While the circumstances surrounding Neal’s death are still being investigated, his family’s search efforts serve as a sobering reminder of the pain and frustration felt when loved ones go missing, only to be found too late.
Dixmoor, the location where Neal’s body was found, has seen its share of violent incidents, and while the exact motive behind his death remains unknown, the discovery of the shell casings suggests a violent end. Gun violence continues to plague many neighborhoods in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs, affecting families and communities on a devastating scale.
For Aaron Neal’s family, the discovery of his body was the darkest end to their desperate search, leaving them questioning what more could have been done to prevent this tragedy. Neal's tragic death underscores the need for further scrutiny in handling missing person cases, as families, like Neal's, endure the most painful of waits for news they dread to hear.
