ROCHELLE – It has been six months since a 41-year-old man was found deceased near downtown Rochelle, and there has been no answers as to what exactly occurred. On September 27th, Rochelle police were called to the 100 block of Washington Street about an unresponsive person. The Illinois State Police have been assisting local authorities with finding answers to the circumstances that led to the death of Manuel Penaran, but so far, nothing has turned up.
Rochelle Police Chief Pete Pavia said that they still have two detectives working the case.
“The big thing that we don’t like is the social media investigators, who people start adding things to the story that’s not true, “ he said. “That spawns a whole other thing on social media, and everyone all of a sudden, everyone becomes an eyewitness, and I heard this, and I heard that, and 99.9% of the comments are not true.”
Anyone with any new information is asked to contact the Rochelle Police Department.
