Body of man pulled from Lake Michigan identified; death marks 3rd apparent drowning in 3 days
The body of a 38-year-old Chicago man was pulled from the water near Montrose Harbor early Thursday, hours after a second boating accident in a week in the party-friendly area of Lake Michigan known as the “Playpen” left one person in critical condition and another missing.
Emergency responders were called to the 200 block of West Montrose Harbor Drive for a report of a body in the water, according to Chicago police. The man’s body had been “pulled from the water” by Chicago Fire Department personnel at 12:22 a.m., authorities said, and he was taken to Weiss Memorial Hospital in the Uptown neighborhood where he was pronounced dead at 2:13 a.m., according to information from the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
He was identified as Francisco Gonzalez, 38, of the 6400 block of North Bell Avenue, according to Brittany Hill, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office.
At a news conference Thursday, Chicago police marine unit Lt. Tony Mendez said he was not the same person who had been missing after two people fell from a boat in the Playpen about 7 p.m. Wednesday. The search for the missing man resumed Thursday morning, and continued into the afternoon.
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Gonzalez was the second person in as many days to be pulled from the lake and the third this week.
Luis Alberto Davila Vera, 43, of the 1000 block of West 15th Street, died Wednesday morning. His body was pulled from Lake Michigan near Diversey Harbor, authorities said. Chicago police classified the case as a death investigation. The Chicago Fire Department said it appeared he “slipped and fell into (the) harbor,” suggesting an accidental drowning, although his cause of death had not yet been determined by the Cook County medical examiner’s office. That agency was expected to perform an autopsy Thursday.
Vera fell into the water off the shore of the 2600 block of North Cannon Drive in Lincoln Park at 5:02 a.m. Wednesday — but he didn’t resurface, according to Chicago police. The Fire Department and officers from the police marine unit responded and pulled his body out of the water. He was taken via ambulance to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 5:54 a.m., police said.
Also this week, a day before Vera’s death, officials in Whiting recovered the body of a Chicago man who had been missing for two weeks after he and a friend went boating on Lake Michigan.
Dexter Trendell Sain, 36, was found about 200 yards offshore, near the Whiting Lakefront Park. Sain drowned, according to the Lake County coroner’s office in Indiana, which performed a forensic autopsy Wednesday.
Sain and Curtis Herron, also 36, had been missing since the morning of July 27, when they took out a boat on Lake Michigan. Family members said the pair likely wanted to give the 30-foot Bayliner, named Cindy Ann, a test run and the longtime friends from Chicago had very little boating experience.
The 7 p.m. call about two people who had fallen off a boat was the second time in less than a week that people were badly hurt in the Playpen.
Two women, including Lana Batochir, were severely injured in a boating accident Saturday night. Batochir had been floating on an inflatable raft when a 37-foot yacht suddenly reversed, sucking her under. Batochir underwent a double leg amputation after her feet were severed by the boat’s propeller.
Batochir has retained the law firm of Corboy & Demetrio to represent her. The legal team plans to launch “an investigation as a preliminary step in potential litigation,” according to an emailed statement from Helen Lucaitis, who is an attorney and the spokeswoman for Corboy & Demetrio.
Batochir, who is 34 and a mother of two, “has completed a series of three surgeries, resulting in the amputation of her legs, 10 inches below her knees,” according to Lucaitis.
Chicago Tribune reporters Jake Sheridan and Stephanie Casanova contributed.
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