An autopsy Wednesday determined that a 58-year-old man who was found in the basement of his suspiciously burned West Englewood neighborhood home died of a gunshot wound, officials said.
Tuesday about 4 p.m., police were called to the 6100 block of South Wood Street, the home of a missing person named Kenneth W. Keller, in order to check on his well-being, police said.
When they got there, Keller’s girlfriend told officers she’d found him in a pool of blood, suffering from a head wound. He was dead on the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Earlier, Officer Steve Rusanov, a police spokesman, said the body was found on Feb. 26 about 3 p.m.
A shell casing was found next to a pile of clothing near the basement stairs, police said.
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Arson investigators also found that someone apparently used an open flame to light a shower curtain, a window curtain above the kitchen sink and another kitchen curtain on fire. The flames spread, charring a kitchen cabinet in Keller’s home.
An autopsy that was performed Wednesday determined Keller died of a gunshot wound to the head, and his death was ruled a homicide, the medical examiner’s office said.
No arrests have been made, and Keller’s death was now being investigated as a homicide, said Rusanov.