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Michael Parker was "nearly blind"
Original story follows...
An East St. Louis police lieutenant was hot on the trail of a driver that fled a traffic stop on foot...until the unmistakable stench of months-old dead body stopped the cop in his tracks.
The officer, Lance Murphy, investigated the aroma and discovered what is believed to be the remains of Michael Parker, a disabled Granite City man who went missing earlier this year in East St. Louis.
Parker, 53, was last seen February 5 wandering around Sixth Street and Martin Luther King Drive. The body was found three blocks away in a vacant lot on 200 Rear N Fifth Street.
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An autopsy is scheduled for later this afternoon to confirm the identity of the deceased.
Carolyn P. Smith of the Belleville News-Democrat describes the circumstances of Parker's disappearance:
Police in February released a video that shows Parker disoriented in the area of Sixth Street and Martin Luther King Drive in East St. Louis between 4 and 6 p.m. on Feb. 5.According to an earlier report from the Alton Telegraph, Parker was five-feet two-inches tall and weighed 125 pounds. He reportedly needed two canes to walk and was "nearly blind" and heavily medicated.
Parker apparently removed his coat during a cold rain and entered a parked vehicle that did not belong to him. The coat was later recovered, assistant Granite City police chief Maj. Jeff Connor said.
Later that evening, about 10:45 p.m., police recovered Parker's identification card and other personal documents at the corner of Sixth Street and Washington Avenue in St. Louis.
In mid-February, investigators recovered what they believed to be one of Parker's canes in the area of Sixth Street in East St. Louis.
