Torso Found in IL River in 2016 Linked to Peoria County Man

By Benjamin Cox on January 28, 2020 at 11:05am

Photo of John Frich (Courtesy of Peoria County Sheriff's Office)

Illinois State Police officials have identified the person attached to a torso discovered in the Illinois River in Schuyler County in November 2016. The torso is connected to a skull found in June 2017 in Kingston Mines, Illinois in the southern tip of Peoria County.

Using the DNA Doe Project, officers say that the body parts belong to John H. Frich, who had residences in Peoria and Hawaii. Investigators say that Frich would have been 56 years old at the time of his death. Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood has ruled that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and that Frich’s body was dismembered and thrown in the Illinois River. An announcement about further investigations into the crime that led to Frich’s death is expected today by the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office at 1PM.

Anyone with any information about John Frich are asked to call Lieutenant Dan Corpus at 309-258-7160 or the Peoria Area Crime Stoppers Unit at 309-673-9000.