Authorities recovered a body Wednesday night in the suburban reservoir where a man went missing while swimming earlier this week.
Around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Forest Preserve District of DuPage County said their police found the man’s body while searching the reservoir by kayak.
Forest Preserve District of DuPage County police said they are continuing to investigate the incident.
The DuPage County Coroner’s Office will identify the body and determine the official cause of death, the forest preserve said.
The forest preserve will resume normal operating hours Thursday morning.
DuPage County officials began draining the Wood Dale / Itasca Reservoir Tuesday as a part of the search.
Water levels at the reservoir had dropped approximately 12 to 18 inches as of 5:30 p.m., a representative of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County said, adding that the process is moving slower than anticipated.
A robotic watercraft equipped with sonar was also deployed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police to assist in the search.
Around 7 p.m. Tuesday, Wood Dale Fire Protection District officials responded to a report and video showing a person in the Wood Dale / Itasca Reservoir near the intersection of North Wood Dale Road and School Street, the district said.
Witnesses reported hearing a man, who they said was at the reservoir with a woman, swimming before sudden screams for help broke out.
“I just hear the guy screaming for the girl to come inside and he was screaming and then I stopped hearing the screams,” Victoria Ostasz said.
Swimming in the reservoir is not allowed, authorities said. The reservoir is for storm water retention, holding overflow water from Salt Creek.
There are “very powerful drains” in the reservoir, one neighbor said.
Relatives of the missing man said they believed he was in the area visiting his girlfriend. They identified him as Hipólito “Polo” Hernandez, a father of five.
Photos and videos at the scene showed a large emergency response for the search as of 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Divers and drones were deployed to assist with the search, officials said.
Further details surrounding the incident were not immediately known.
Check back for more on this developing story.