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A body found in the Greenbelt Forest Preserve near Park City this month has been identified as a homeless man, officials said.
Although DNA tests are not complete, Lake County Coroner Richard Keller said he is confident the badly decomposed body found in a partially wooded area Nov. 18 is Mark Beatty, 56.
A small giraffe figurine near the body helped identify Beatty, Keller said. Beatty has relatives in Nebraska and Arizona, and some of them knew Beatty recently bought the figurine, he said.
Although the cause of death is still unknown, Beatty was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer this summer and could have succumbed to the disease, Keller said.
