An autopsy done Wednesday on the body of 66-year-old Willowbrook resident Gloria Godinez did not conclusively determine the cause of death, officials said.
The DuPage County coroner’s office is reporting the cause of death as undetermined, pending toxicology tests. Blood and urine samples have been sent for testing, with results not expected for four to six weeks, officials said.
Willowbrook police said there were no signs of trauma to Godinez’s body when it was discovered at 4:10 p.m. Tuesday near a fence among bushes along Plainfield Road.
Deputy police Chief Mark Altobella said it did not look as though a car hit Godinez. He also said he does not think she collapsed as she was walking on a sidewalk and then rolled down into the bushes and out of sight.
On Sunday the police had cadaver dogs, bloodhounds and officers on foot searching the area. On Sunday night, officers flew over the area in an Illinois State Police airplane with infrared cameras and saw nothing, Altobella said.
“I am confident her body wasn’t there at 6 p.m. Sunday,” he said. “That whole area was searched numerous times.”
Godinez left her home in the Waterford subdivision, at Plainfield Road and Madison Street, on foot at about 10:30 a.m. Sunday. She told her family she was going to walk to the Five Seasons Family Sports Club on the southeast corner of Plainfield and Madison in Burr Ridge, only a few blocks away.
Godinez was seen entering the health club, but no one saw or heard from her after that, police said. Her family reported her missing to police about 1 p.m. Sunday.
“We think she was going to lay by the pool,” Altobella said. Someone at the health club reported seeing her enter the facility by the pool gate, he said.
But police do not know how long she was there or where she may have gone afterward. She might have just walked around, or she could have gotten in a car with someone and gone someplace, the deputy chief said.
“We can’t determine where she went,” he said. “She had no phone with her, so there was no way to locate her.”
Godinez was a former club member and returned there from time to time, said Robert Diamond, chief club officer. “She had many friends over here,” he said.
Diamond said police returned to search there at least six times between her disappearance and the discovery of the body.
The police were “so diligent with their efforts,” he said. They searched every part of the club and the grounds, including going up on the roof, and returned with different search dogs, including one from Madison, Wis., Diamond said.
“They wanted to leave nothing unturned,” he said.
At 4:10 p.m. Tuesday, an officer rechecking the area along Plainfield Road saw a body through the bushes that proved to be Godinez’s. She had her cane with her, Altobella said.
“That’s why we go over the area again,” he said.
Police said they do not believe there is any threat to the community.
Demetrios Patos, who lives on Kingswood Court a few homes away from the Godinez family, said he rode his bicycle Tuesday morning down the sidewalk past the area where Godinez’s body was found later that day. He said he noticed nothing but was looking ahead or to his left at the traffic on Plainfield.
Carolyn Garbin, who lives across the street from the family, said she has seen Godinez playing with her grandchildren in front of her home on Kingswood Road.
“It’s very sad for all of us,” she said. “It’s tragic.”
She knew Godinez was missing and was worried about what had happened to her.
“Somebody just doesn’t up and vanish,” Garbin said.
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