The Latest:
JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — The Latest on investigations that followed the discovery of fetal remains at the Illinois home of a former Indiana abortion (all times local):
2:15 p.m.
Illinois authorities say the more than 2,200 fetal remains found at the Illinois home of an abortion doctor who died this month were from abortions conducted between 2000 and 2002.
At a news conference Thursday, Will County officials said it appears that all the abortions were conducted in Indiana at a time when Dr. Ulrich Klopfer was working in that state. They said that the fetal remains will be sent to Indiana, where authorities there are investigating.
State's Attorney James Glasgow says Will County authorities will cooperate with Indiana investigators but it appears that the only laws that Klopfer may have violated were on disposal of fetal remains and failing to do required paperwork.
Officials declined to say how they know the abortions were performed in those years.
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1:20 p.m.
Authorities are searching a second shuttered Indiana abortion clinic once operated by a late abortion doctor whose Illinois property was found to contain more than 2,200 medically preserved fetal remains.
A spokeswoman for Fort Wayne, Indiana, police told The Journal Gazette that city police assisted the Indiana attorney general's office in obtaining a warrant for Thursday's search of the former clinic where Dr. Ulrich Klopfer once performed abortions.
WANE-TV showed footage of Fort Wayne officers near the doorway and in the parking lot outside that building beyond a line of police caution tape.
Police spokeswoman Sofia Rosales-Scatena says she doesn't know what officers found there Thursday or what they were looking for.
Authorities in South Bend, Indiana, conducted a similar search Thursday at a former clinic that Klopfer had operated there.
Klopfer also had operated a clinic in Gary, Indiana.
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12:01 p.m.
A northern Indiana prosecutor says authorities found no fetal remains during a search of a shuttered South Bend abortion clinic once operated by a late abortion doctor whose Illinois property was found to contain more than 2,200 medically preserved fetal remains.
St. Joseph County Prosecutor Ken Cotter says police, prosecutors and members of the Indiana attorney general's office served a search warrant Thursday morning at the former South Bend abortion clinic where Dr. Ulrich Klopfer had performed abortions.
Cotter said during a news conference outside the building that boxes of medical records were found inside, but that "based on what we have seen so far there are no fetal remains here."
He says a vacant lot was also searched in the northern Indiana city. Cotter says the investigation at those properties is ongoing.
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EARLIER POST:
JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — Officials whose offices are investigating the discovery of more than 2,200 medically preserved fetal remains at an Illinois house of a late doctor who had performed abortions for decades in Indiana, including in South Bend, will hold a news conference to discuss the case.
The Will County Sheriff's Office says the sheriff, county coroner and the county's top prosecutor will speak at 1:30 p.m. CDT Thursday outside the sheriff's office in Joliet.
They will talk about elements of the investigation including the search of the home of Dr. Ulrich Klopfer, who died Sept. 3, and how the remains were stored.
The news conference marks the first time the officials will gather to discuss the case since last week when the remains were discovered inside a garage of the Will County residence.
PREVIOUS POST:
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana's attorney general said Monday that he will work with his Illinois counterpart to investigate what he called the "grisly discovery" of more than 2,000 medically preserved fetal remains at the Illinois home of a late doctor who performed abortions in Indiana.
Republican Attorney General Curtis Hill said he and Democratic Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul have "agreed to work together" as Hill's office coordinates an investigation of the remains found at the home of Dr. Ulrich Klopfer, who died Sept. 3.
"The grisly discovery of these fetal remains at the Illinois home of a deceased abortion doctor shocks the conscience. Further, we have reason to believe there is an Indiana connection to these remains," he said in a statement.
Hill's statement did not elaborate on what specifically would be investigated.
ORIGINAL POST:
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Four Indiana lawmakers are demanding an investigation to determine if more than 2,000 medically preserved fetal remains found at the Illinois home of a former Indiana abortion doctor were illegally transported across state lines.
State Rep. Ron Bacon and three fellow Republican lawmakers issued a statement Sunday saying the Indiana attorney general's office should investigate the abortion clinics in Allen, Lake and St. Joseph's counties where Dr. Ulrich Klopfer worked.
In addition to Bacon, Rep. Liz Brown (R-Fort Wayne), Rep. Christy Stutzman (R-Goshen) and Rep. Denny Zent (R-Angola) – want Curtis Hill’s office to investigate whether some of those fetal remains were illegally transported from Indiana.
The attorney general's office hasn't responded to a request for comment Monday.
Klopfer died Sept. 3.
The Will County Sheriff's Office said Friday that 2,246 preserved fetal remains were found at Klopfer's home in that northeastern Illinois county.
The coroner's office has taken possession of the remains.
Klopfer performed abortions at clinics in Indiana for years. But his license was suspended in 2016, in part because he failed to report in a timely manner abortions he performed on two girls under 14 years of age.
