The coroner has released the identity of a Gurnee man who went missing on the Fox Lake near Antioch after he and another man were ejected from their boat during a high-speed maneuver.
An autopsy performed on Wednesday on Larry Suchowski, 51, of Gurnee, showed he died from drowning, according to Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek.
Fire department boats located and recovered Suchowski’s body on Fox Lake just before 4 p.m. Tuesday, Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said.
Suchowski went missing after being ejected from a boat on the lake on Monday evening.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office was notified and responded to the scene.
Divers, sonar equipment and boats from multiple fire departments throughout Lake and McHenry counties, as well as from Wisconsin, resumed their searches for Suchowski on Tuesday morning before finding his body in the afternoon.
The search began after the Antioch Fire Protection District and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded at around 5:30 p.m. on Monday to the area of Captain’s Quarters, 38283 North Bolton Place, in unincorporated Antioch, for a call of a water rescue.
Emergency crews arrived and were informed that two people, including Suchowski, were reported to be in the water following a boat incident, according to Antioch Fire Chief Ian Kazian.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said the two adult males were in a boat taking it for a test drive on the Fox Lake.
The boat was traveling too fast when it took a turn, resulting in both men being ejected from the vessel, Covelli said.
One of the men was rescued early on by a civilian boat and brought to shore.
He was transported by ambulance to Northwestern Medicine Hospital in McHenry with non-life-threatening injuries, Kazian said.
Suchowski went under the water and never resurfaced, Covelli said.
Covelli said it did not appear that the boat struck anything but that the turn resulted in so much force that it threw them from the boat.
The Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) was activated to bring additional fire departments from throughout Lake and McHenry counties, as well as from Wisconsin, to the scene with divers, sonar equipment and boats.
Neither of the men was wearing a life jacket and the boat involved has been recovered.
In addition to the fire departments, the sheriff’s office and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police were actively searching for Suchowski. A drone was also being used.
At around 7 p.m. Monday, the fire department declared the incident a “recovery” operation and no longer a rescue operation, Kazian said.
Search crews were focusing their efforts late Monday evening on the GPS coordinates from the initial 911 call, fire officials said.
Emergency crews were at the scene for approximately five hours before ending operations for Monday.
Fire officials said they returned to the lake around 8 a.m. Tuesday to resume search efforts, before finding Suchowski later that afternoon.
The incident remains under investigation by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police.