Under a new Illinois law, it will officially be considered a felony to conceal a person’s death. Previously, people could only be charged with concealing a death of a homicide.

State Sen. John Millner, R-Bloomingdale, of suburban Carol Stream sponsored the bill. He said there was a case in which a group of people from Kane County dumped a dead body in Chicago.

“They determined they could not charge them because they didn’t know if this person was murdered or if it was just an accidental overdose,” he said. “And again for years we would just charge them with concealing the death of a homicide. there was no problem with it. but now as case law develops and you have more creative attorneys out there, they needed to more clearly define the legislation.”

Millner says concealing a death could also hamper evidence collection, and be a health concern. The law takes effect January 1st.