Waukegan city officials are expected to officially vote Monday night whether to issue a council censure against 6th Ward Alderman Keith Turner, documents show.
The Waukegan city council agenda for Monday shows a censure resolution for Alderman Keith Turner for posting a graphic image of human remains discovered on the shore of Lake Michigan on his Facebook page called “Friends of Keith Turner.”
That Facebook page is maintained independently by Alderman Keith Turner for political campaigns, the resolution reads.
The discovered human remains are the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Waukegan Police Department and the Lake County Coroner and believed to be linked to a tragic homicide that occurred in Milwaukee.
Turner’s decision to share the severed arm on social media May 16th “was not authorized by the City of Waukegan and was made outside of his legislative authority as an alderman of the City of Waukegan.” the documents read.
The resolution up for a vote Monday also reads, “Alderman Turner’s actions and behavior raises serious questions about his judgment and his ability to handle sensitive information with discretion and discernment.”
It adds Turner’s decision to post the graphic image of the human remains disregarded the fundamental rights of the family of the victim to grieve in private and posting the graphic photo “demands the strongest disciplinary action available to the City Council.”
If approved by city officials Monday evening, the document reads the city council “censures, condemns, and reprimands Alderman Keith Turner for his unauthorized, insensitive and disgraceful actions.”
Waukegan councilwoman Lynn Florian said previously she had the votes necessary to censure Turner for posting a photo of the arm believed to belong to a murdered 19-year-old woman from Milwaukee.
Florian added the motion to censure is the only means available for fellow aldermen to take action against Turner.
“I believe it’s incumbent on us to hold ourselves to a higher standard of conduct,” Florian said during a Waukegan City Council meeting two weeks ago. “I want to distance myself from what happened because I had nothing to do with that and I want nothing to do with what was done.”
The severed arm was discovered at about 8 p.m. May 11 at the Waukegan Municipal Beach in the 200 block of East Sea Horse Drive.
Authorities said a person was walking along the beach saw what they believed to be a human arm on the ground. Officers later arrived and found the arm next to a fallen tree trunk at the beach.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office responded to the scene and have been working with police on the investigation.
Authorities believe the severed arm belongs to 19-year-old Sade Robinson of Milwaukee, who authorities said was murdered and dismembered around April 2 following a date with Maxwell S. Anderson, 33, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Anderson is currently being held in custody on charges of first degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and arson as authorities believe he intentionally killed Robinson, mutilated her remains then set fire to her car.
A criminal complaint filed in Wisconsin said a severed human leg was later discovered at Warnimont Park in Cudahy, Wisc., while a severed human foot was recovered in a wooded area near 31st Street and Galena in Milwaukee.
Robinson’s mother, Sade of Milwaukee, said she was disgusted to see the social media post from Turner and that she wanted “him held accountable.”