3 charged with concealing Des Plaines man’s death

Three men are accused of concealing the death of a 43-year-old Des Plaines man who collapsed inside a Park Ridge apartment Saturday night, according to police.

The defendants told police they immediately called 911 when Michael A. Kelly knocked on their Park Ridge apartment door and was laying in the courtyard at about 1:33 a.m. Sunday. Police later learned that Kelly was let into the residence on the 700 block of Busse Highway at about 9 p.m. Saturday and went into the bathroom where he collapsed shortly after his arrival.

Gerald M. Pembor, 78, and John D. Pembor, 51, of Park Ridge and Daniel R. Chernesky, 35, of Niles left the unconscious man in the bathroom for several hours before dragging him outside to the courtyard, police said.

Gerald Pembor, who lives with John Pembor on the 700 block of Busse Highway, called 911 once Kelly was left outside, police said. Kelly was friends with the three men and had been at the apartment earlier in the day, said Park Ridge Police Cmdr. Lou Jogmen.

“He went to use the washroom, and they hadn’t seen him for a while. They tried to open door, and he was slumped up next to it,” Jogmen said.

The suspects told police they delayed calling 911 while they figured out what to do.

“They just didn’t want to have a speculation as to why he died in their house,” Jogmen said.

Paramedics transported Kelly to Lutheran General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 3:12 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Gerald Pembor told authorities that he immediately called 911 when they found Kelly at their door, and that the three of them attempted to provide lifesaving measures, police said.

An autopsy on Kelly was inconclusive Sunday and is pending toxicology results, which will take at least eight weeks, according to a medical examiner’s office spokesman.

“He went into the bathroom, and nobody knows what he did in there before the point he passed out,” Jogmen said.

Police said Kelly had been at the apartment with the three men earlier in the day but did not know where he had gone before returning.

Police said there were no indications that Kelly died of violence.

Gerald Pembor, John Pembor, and Chernesky, of the 8400 block of North Milwaukee in Niles, were charged with concealment of a death, a class 4 felony, and appeared in court Monday morning.