All lanes of the Eisenhower Expressway reopened on Thursday evening, after being shut down for nearly nine hours after a person was found dead in a vehicle surrounded by shell casings on the roadway.
Around 10 a.m., the Eisenhower (I-290) was closed east of Mannheim Road where Bellwood meets Westchester. The ramps from Mannheim Road to the Eisenhower, Mannheim Road crossing over the Eisenhower, and the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88) eastbound to the Eisenhower were also closed, Illinois State Police said.
The car that authorities had been investigating was towed away from the scene shortly before 6 p.m.
All lanes of the Eisenhower reopened by 6:55 p.m., police said.
It was around 10 a.m. when police first began investigating on the scene where an SUV stopped in the outbound lanes of the Eisenhower near the Westchester Boulevard overpass.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed that one person was found dead in the SUV. The vehicle was surrounded by bullet shell casings, and there were reports of some sort of explosion.
Illinois state police and federal authorities have not said why they were investigating the SUV or how the person inside died.
At first, a police drone was seen hovering over the vehicle, but officers kept their distance. A bomb squad later came up and examined the vehicle, and then officers got closer, eventually securing the scene and placing a tarp over the driver’s side.
Later, a white tent went up to cover the entire SUV, and another car was parked in front to block it off.
The shell casings surrounding the car were seen on the shoulder and in several lanes of the expressway — with officers putting down dozens of evidence markers.
Many drivers were stuck for hours as the Eisenhower remained blocked from late morning through the bulk of the evening rush.
“I thought that it was an accident, so I got out the truck, walked down to the accident — like if it’s an accident, I can tow the car away and open traffic back up,” said Untrail Boyd. “I see the officers have a shield right there — now this is more than an accident.”
Boyd posted a picture on social media with two pizzas on the hood of his car, captioned, “Lunch date 290.” Once finally out of traffic, he said he was making the best of the situation.
“I didn’t have no choice but to get a pizza. We didn’t eat nothing all day, and we were sitting in traffic for, like I say, you know, like two and a half hours,” Boyd said. “So my fiancée went across the beam, climbed over all the grass, walked to Home Run Inn.”
The FBI and the ATF are leading the investigation, and the DEA is supporting the investigation, according to a DEA spokesperson.
It remained unclear Thursday afternoon exactly what happened in the SUV. Illinois State Police provided no details other than to say an “active incident” was happening.
This incident happened to be near the same site where an unrelated rollover crash and oil spill shut down the westbound Eisenhower earlier Thursday morning.
According to Illinois Department of Transportation data, more than 130,000 drivers use the Eisenhower near Mannheim on an average day.
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