File Photo – Lake County Sheriff’s Office | Photo: Woo-Sung Shim / Lake and McHenry County Scanner

A man was found dead inside a partially submerged pickup truck after he drove through a remote residential property and into the Des Plaines River near Gurnee Thursday evening.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Gurnee Fire Department responded around 7:30 p.m. Thursday to a residence in the 36500 block of North Route 41 in unincorporated Gurnee for a report of a water rescue.

A 911 caller reported a pickup truck was found submerged in the Des Plaines River behind the home, which is located near Route 41 and Stearns School Road.

Sheriffโ€™s deputies arrived and located the vehicle partially submerged with the driver deceased, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli.

A preliminary investigation shows the homeowner arrived home and located tire tracks in his yard.

He followed the tire tracks, which led to the river where he located a 2016 Toyota Tacoma.

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The driver of the Toyota was preliminarily identified as a 79-year-old man from Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. His identity is being temporarily withheld.

Sheriffโ€™s crash investigators are working to determine the approximate time of the crash and what caused it.

Sheriffโ€™s telecommunicators ran the license plate of the Toyota and determined it fled from a local police department around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday approximately a mile and a half away.

Dispatchers also determined the vehicle was called in as a wrong-way driver around 3:40 a.m. Wednesday in the area of Route 173 and Kilbourne Road.

The Lake County Coronerโ€™s Office responded to the scene and an autopsy is being scheduled.

The crash remains under investigation by the Lake County Sheriffโ€™s Office Technical Crash Investigations Team.