OAK PARK, Ill. (AP) – Authorities in this Chicago suburb hunted on Friday for the killer who smashed a University of Illinois-Chicago religion professor in the face and left him to die on another man’s front lawn.

Peter D’Agostino, 42, was found with a bleeding head wound Wednesday afternoon a few blocks from his house by police responding to a 911 call. He was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

Two days later, authorities said they had no clues as to who killed D’Agostino, or why. Police asked for the public’s help in figuring out what happened.

“When tragedies of this kind occur, it is important for us to pull together as a community to get the case solved quickly,” Police Chief Rick Tanksley said in a statement.

Witnesses who found the professor said he had a severe head wound, and his briefcase was next to the body, his glasses neatly folded on top of it.

“Whoever killed him, there was a lot of rage,” said Michael Sellers, who saw D’Agostino on the lawn in front of the house where he rents a room. “It wasn’t a mugging. He had his wallet, his watch and everything.”

Police said no weapon was found, and they would not say how they believe the injuries were inflicted.

The owner of the home where D’Agostino was found, Blake Hayner, said he heard yelling and then the slamming of a car door. Minutes later, he and his wife saw a man lying in their yard.

Police would not say if they think D’Agostino was attacked on the lawn or attacked elsewhere and then dumped.

D’Agostino, the married father of a baby daughter, was an associate professor of history and Catholic studies who had taught at the university since 2001.

He was a graduate of the University of Chicago and had returned to the city after teaching for six years at Stonehill College in North Easton, Mass.

“We had officers at the El stations and the street corners asking people walking home it they’d seen anything,” Cmdr. Michael Brosnan said. “It’s a real whodunit at this point.”

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