The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department reported Sunday evening that a body discovered Saturday January 27, 2018 about 12:57 p.m. in a ditch on a rural roadway in Granville Township has been identified as a missing teen, 16-year-old Diamond Bradley of Spring Valley.
The teen’s body was discovered in a ditch in Putnam County along County Highway 850 North in Granville Township just west of Meridian Road on the border with the La Salle County line east of Putnam County. County Highway 850 is a gravel road surrounded by farm fields. Meridian Road is also a narrow rural asphalt road that runs parallel to Interstate 39, about four miles east of Meridian Road.
Diamond Bradley was last seen at her home in Spring Valley about 10 p.m. Tuesday January 23, 2018 and was reported missing Wednesday. She was described in earlier reports as 5 feet tall, 100 LBS, with long black hair that had been dyed red, and initially no foul play was suspected. She was a student at Hall High School.
Grandma Rosie’s, an ice cream shop and restaurant in Spring Valley, has offered a cash reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for the homicide. The reward was announced that on the business Facebook page Sunday afternoon.
An autopsy was performed Sunday, but authorities didn’t release autopsy results or release any details regarding why the case is being classified a homicide. Putnam County Death Investigator Robert Cofoid did report that his preliminary investigation indicates 16-year-old Diamond Bradley “died from multiple injuries.”
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office is urging any citizens with information about the case to call Putnam County Sheriff’s Office 815-925-7015 or any local law enforcement agency in the area.
The crime scene is located about 3.5 miles southeast of Granville; which is about 100 miles southwest of Chicago, about 50 miles southwest of DeKalb and about 40 miles northeast of Peoria, Illinois.
Spring Valley (pop. 5,558) is located about four miles north of Granville in Bureau County, and about an eight-mile drive along the Route 89 Bridge over the Illinois River and over rural roads to the crime scene. Putnam County, according to the 2010 census has a population of 6,006.