Mark Beatty, a 56-year-old homeless veteran, body identified

Body found near giraffe figurine identified

Corrinne Hess Daily Herald
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Remains found earlier this month in a Lake County forest preserve have been identified as those of Mark Beatty, a 56-year-old homeless veteran.

The body found near this figurine has been identified as a homeless veteran.
Lake County Coroner Richard Keller said while DNA comparisons are still pending, he is confident the body is Beatty's.

"A large number of people have come forward, to the point where we are assured the guy who was living in that area was indeed Mark Beatty," Keller said.

Keller believes Beatty died about a month before his body was discovered Nov. 18 in the Greenbelt preserve near Park City.

"I don't know for sure what the cause of death was, but he was recently diagnosed with terminal (lung) cancer," Keller said. "It certainly could have been natural causes."

The body was found near a brown and tan giraffe figurine, clothing and remnants of a tent, Keller said.

The 14-inch figurine was one of the clues that led family members to contact the coroner's office.

Members of the Beatty's Arizona family knew he purchased the figure at a thrift store and planned to give it to his mother, Keller said.
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