Will County man charged with concealing meth overdose death by dumping body in woods

Mark Ramsey

A Custer Park man has been charged in Will County with concealing the death of a 44-year-old man who died from a methamphetamine intoxication by dumping his body in a wooded area in Kankakee County.

At 2:38 p.m. on Tuesday, Mark Ramsey, 57, was booked into the Will County jail following his arrest on two felony charges of concealment of a death.

Even though the body of 44-year-old Adam Watts was found in Kankakee County, Ramsey is facing charges in Will County because Watts was reported missing in Will County and was believed to have died there, said Braidwood Police Chief Todd Lyons.

Custer Park is an unincorporated community that is roughly five miles east of Braidwood and 22 miles south of Joliet.

Watts was reported missing to Braidwood police on May 7 after friends and family had not heard from Watts for months, according to a news release from Braidwood Police Department.

“On May 14th, after an intense investigation, Adam Watts’ body was discovered wrapped in several layers of material and plastic, that was ratchet strapped into a removed truck bedliner and dumped in a densely wooded area , in rural Kankakee County,” police said.

Braidwood Police Department worked with the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office Pro Act Unit on the case.

An autopsy performed by the Kankakee County Coroner’s Office determined Watts died from an accidental overdose of methamphetamine, police said.

A criminal complaint filed in Will County alleged Ramsey concealed Watts’ body on March 5, about two months before Watts was reported missing.

The complaint alleged Ramsey dumped Watts’ body “in an isolated and wooded area located near East 4000 South Road, Pembroke Township,” and that Ramsey did so with “intent of concealing information regarding the place or manner of death” of Watts.

Ramsey has been indicted in three drug cases in Will County this year.

In one case, Ramsey was charged with unlawful possession of amphetamines and Oxycodone on May 4. In another case, he was also charged with possessing alprazolam on May 11.

In a third case, Ramsey was further charged with possessing between 15 to 100 grams of methamphetamine with intent to deliver on May 19. Prosecutors alleged Ramsey was in possession of heroin, alprazolam and a .380-caliber ammunition on May 19 as well.