- The elderly man known as Seven was buried in a Catholic cemetery in Chicago in 2015, leaving only a numbered cement cylinder.
- Seven's identity was recently discovered by Cook County Sheriff's Office investigators using postmortem fingerprints.
- She was identified as Reba C. Bailey, a female Army veteran who had been missing since the 1970s.
At the edge of a Catholic cemetery in Chicago, the remains of an elderly man are buried, marked only by a cement cylinder deep underground with the number 04985 written on it. The person passed away in a nursing home in 2015 and could barely remember anything, including his own name.
They went with seven.
Now, police specializing in missing persons and cold cases have determined Seven's identity in one of the Cook County Sheriff's Office's most unusual investigations and one that could change state law. . Using her postmortem fingerprints, investigators identified Seven as 75-year-old Reba C. Bailey, an Illinois Army veteran who had been missing since the 1970s.
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This milestone brings to an end generations of relatives and friends. But it didn't matter whether they knew the name or the number, other than that the investigation revealed that Reba, a Women's Corps veteran who grew up in a large family, wanted to be identified as a man called Seven. , more mysteries have been revealed about how he became homeless with no memories.
A cement marker is seen in the section for unclaimed people at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chicago on November 13, 2023. Sheriff Jason Moran's team investigating missing persons in Cook County, Illinois discovered the woman's identity through military records. This inhuman marker will eventually be replaced with a U.S. veteran marker. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Public records, interviews, newspapers, and police activity provide some insight into a man with two lives, although much remains unknown. Investigators say the next step is to honor them with new headstones and military honors.
“It's a scary situation where someone could die and no one knows who that person is. That's why we pursue these cases so vigorously to protect dignity.” said Commander Jason Moran, who oversees the Missing Persons Unit. “People need names.”
Sheriff Tom Dart's Office took on the Seven Doe case last year. The firm is known for investigating cold cases, including identifying victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
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However, Seven's case is unusual because it involves unidentified people, both dead and alive.
“We've never had anything like that before,” Dart said. “This is different, and it kept changing.”
In 2015, seven people died from heart disease caused by dementia and diabetes, according to the Cook County coroner. Fingerprints taken at the time were checked against a police database, but no matches were found. The seven people were buried in the unidentified section of Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery.
Eight years later, Cook County investigators took over the case. With foul play ruled out, they started with postmortem fingerprints and ran them across multiple databases, including military records.
The match came up for Reba, who joined the Army in 1961.
All five of Reba's siblings are deceased, but she has more than half a dozen nieces and nephews. Most people had never met her, but they had heard about her.
Rick Bailey, son of Reba's late brother Richard, said he was “completely shocked” when investigators contacted him about his long-missing aunt.
“My father had been searching for years to find my sister,” Bailey said. Mr Bailey, 65, believes Reba's siblings will be pleased with the news. “If they were here, they would all be very happy.”
Investigators were able to piece together parts of Reba's life.
She was born in 1940, the daughter of a carpenter who moved frequently for work. Tragedy struck Reba's life when she was 10 years old, losing her mother in a car accident and also injuring her father and her younger brother.
About 10 years after the accident, she joined the military and served in Alabama, Texas, and California. Investigators discovered that she was briefly married to her fellow veteran, John H. Bilberry, who died in 1989.
According to military records, she was honorably discharged in 1962 “for marriage.”
What happened to Reba between his return from the army and the time he showed up at a worker's house in Chicago with no memory remains a mystery.
Relatives heard stories about the fight between Reba and her father, but there are different theories about what happened. Some say it was about her decision to join the military. Some people heard that she was about sexual orientation.
We also don't know what caused the memory loss, change in gender identity, or the name Seven.
Many people who would have had insight are dead or knew Reba as Seven with no memory of her past.
Dennis Plunkett found Seven on the porch of St. Francis Catholic Worker House on a cold day in the late 1970s. This is a hospitality house for homeless people and those who want to live in the community.
Plunkett said the person they found spoke in the third person, referred to himself as a man and did not answer personal questions.
When asked his name, he often answers “Mr. Seven.”
Eventually, Seven became the family's cook. As word spread about Seven's hearty casseroles and rice and bean dishes, people started lining up to eat.
“No one could have done more to help the homeless,” Plunkett said of Seven.
The seven people lived in the house for decades until they moved out in 2003 due to health concerns. Seven people lost consciousness in the hallway and were taken to a nursing home for treatment in what doctors later said was diabetic shock.
Since Seven had no legal name or family, Chicago police began an investigation, but the investigation was unsuccessful. Seven became wards of the state and died in 2015.
Relatives feel relieved after learning more about Reba's later years.
“We know she is well taken care of,” said Amanda Ingram, who would have been Reba's great-niece. “That's the best thing her grandfather could have hoped for.”
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Cook County investigators updated the Seven Doe entry in the federal missing persons database to include Reba Bailey's name and photo. Their next step is to provide a new headstone and military honors in the spring.
The lawsuit could also change Illinois law.
The sheriff's office wants to amend the state's missing person identification law to require postmortem fingerprints to be checked against all available state and federal databases. The idea is that by conducting a thorough search at the time of death, it may be possible to identify the person more quickly.
In Reba's case, her family may have had the opportunity to plan a funeral. Dart's office is drafting the bill.
The family considered moving Reba's body closer to family. But moving your body is expensive and complicated.
“We decided as a family to stay out of her way,” Rick Bailey said. “At least we know where she is now.”
