Homeless Man Who Blogged About Living In Woods Presumed Dead

ELGIN, IL — A homeless man who shared articulate anecdotes about his time living in the woods is presumed to have died. Doug Henke lived in a dwelling he carefully crafted with wood beams, which was then layered a tarp, plastic and heavy blankets, along the 700 block of Big Timber Road in Eling.

Authorities found a body around noon on June 11 on the floor near his bed, the Daily Herald is reporting.

The Kane County Coroner's Office is working to identify the body, Kane Co. Coroner Rob Russell told the newspaper. A police investigation also remains open but there were "no overt, outward signs of homicide," Russell said.

Henke shared his thoughts about being homeless on his blog "Arthur: Notes From The Edge." His last entry was posted on May 23.

"Things have to happen first, sequences that I need to initiate. Soon, but not tomorrow soon, but soon, I am going to change my life, or at least perspective there on/of. (I really miss a thesaurus!)

"I am too young and too healthy and too smart to be this disenfranchised with life," he wrote in the May 23 post. "Since I keep moving, hiding in the woods, without a mailing address, I have decided to presume life just can't find me anymore."

Henke grew up in South Elgin, served in the U.S. Navy in his 20s and worked in accounting over the years but either quit or lost jobs and ended up first moving to Tent City, an encampment for homeless people on city property on the Fox River, in 2017, the Daily Herald reports. He told the Daily Herald he suffered from bipolar disorder and alcoholism and was also HIV-positive.

Henke made headlines earlier this year when he was told he needed to move off Fox River Water Reclamation District land because he was trespassing.

• Homeless Man Ordered To Move Dwelling Out Of Woods

Camping is prohibited on the property, and Henke, who chooses to be homeless, was asked to leave by a Fox River Water Reclamation District employee and an Elgin police officer.

"They wanted me out of here immediately," Henke told the Daily Herald in recent months. "The guy had this mindset that all this just comes down and it's a tent, you just fold it up and go. Dude, it took me two months to build this and another seven months to make it what it is now."

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