Authorities recovered a body Thursday afternoon believed to be that of the Winnetka teen who went missing after swimming in Lake Michigan earlier this week.
The 18-year-old’s body was recovered at Wilmette Harbor around 1:30 p.m. and taken to the Cook County medical examiner’s office to be identified, said Winnetka village spokesperson Josie Clark.
“We are reasonably confident that it is the body of the person who went missing at Elder Beach on August 15. We extend our condolences to his family and friends for their loss,” Clark wrote in a statement.
The body was recovered at 20 Harbor Dr., the village spokesperson said, an address close to Gillson Beach and the Baha’i House of Worship.
The recovered body is believed to be a teen who had gone missing after going into Lake Michigan in predawn hours Tuesday morning, officials said earlier in the week. Local fire departments and Coast Guard first responders searched for him early Tuesday morning, but suspended the search later in the day amid hazardous lake conditions.
[ Search suspended until morning for 18-year-old man who went missing at Winnetka beach early Tuesday ]
The fire departments that resumed the search Wednesday used “everything at their disposal” as the mission switched from a rescue to a recovery, Clark said.
First responders searched an area of the lake three-quarters of a mile long and half-mile out into the water using boats, Clark said. They also used divers, dogs and infrared drones capable of detecting any non-water objects, she added.
By Thursday, the fire departments looking for the missing teen focused their search on the shoreline, Clark said. It was unclear whether authorities or a civilian had first reported the body, she said.
Themedical examiner’s office had not yet publicly identified the teen.
