Man safely located following overnight search on Fox Lake

FOX LAKE, Ill. (WGN) — A man has been found safe after an hours-long search on the water in Fox Lake Tuesday morning.

According to Fox Lake police, officers received a call from a citizen around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, who reported the 25-year-old man was in his underwear in their backyard.

“He is healthy and he was reunited with his family and is receiving medical treatment. We are going to continue with our investigation to find out fully what happened,” said Richard Howell of the Fox Lake Police Dept.

This comes after an hours-long search by crews involving K9 units and drones, which began after the man had reportedly informed friends that he was in emotional distress overnight.

The search began after friends told police that they had recently received text messages around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday from the missing man, indicating that he was emotionally distressed and possibly heading towards the water.

Following the report, crews with the Fox Lake Police Department, along with the Fox Lake Fire Protection District and the Lake County Sheriff’s Marine Division, began an extensive search on the water and the shoreline, but there were still no signs of the missing man around 7 a.m.

Amid the search, crews had said they found the missing man’s clothes near the shoreline.

Police feared that the missing man had jumped into Mineola Bay in Fox Lake overnight, and when crews were unable to locate him by around 7 a.m., they declared the search a recovery mission.

In an unexpected update shared just after 10:30 a.m., officials said the missing man had been safely located.

Police said the man was very forthcoming when they approached him. Apparently, officials said he went into the water at South Maple Avenue, and the current took him across the lake.

“I would never call it a waste of time. It was someone who was in need of help. So we are more than willing to spend as much time as we need to, and manpower that we need to, and luckily we had a great outcome this morning,” Howell said.

Police said they will continue to gather information from the man about what exactly happened.