Chicago police recovered a male body of unknown age Sunday afternoon from Lake Michigan by 31st Street Beach. Police couldn’t immediately confirm whether the person was a boater who went missing at the same location Friday.
Shortly before 1 p.m., the Chicago Police Department marine unit recovered the person along the northbound lanes of the 3100 block of South DuSable Lake Shore Drive. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Detectives are investigating.
The recovery comes a day after a 37-year-old man died after being rescued from the 31st Street Beach harbor Saturday, and two days after a man went missing when a boat carrying 16 people capsized Friday night near the same beach.
Early on Saturday, Woodland resident Eric C. Johnson, 37, was rescued from the water by Dock E at the 31st Street Harbor. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy for Johnson was scheduled for Sunday, and the incident was being investigated.
On Friday, the boat carrying over a dozen people flipped near the 3100 block of South DuSable Lake Shore Drive around 7:30 p.m., according to police. Chicago Fire Department officials said 12 of the people who were rescued refused first aid, while three were taken to the hospital in good condition.
The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project reported that 41 of the 85 drownings in 2023 across the Great Lakes occurred in Lake Michigan. And half of all annual drownings in Lake Michigan occur on its south end, which includes Illinois’ lakefront.
Earlier in July, during Independence Day weekend, the Douglas neighborhood beach closed two hours earlier after 4th Ward Ald. Lamont Robinson had cited recent fatal shootings. Plans included the presence of harbor security from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Robinson told the Tribune then that he would assess whether to continue the early closures after the holiday.
Chicago Tribune’s Caroline Kubzansky, Molly Morrow, Avani Kalra and A.D. Quig contributed.
