'Foot' hooked in Lake Marie was a Halloween prop

Divers and sonar teams spent nearly 10 hours searching an Antioch-area lake Wednesday after a child reported snagging what he thought was an unattached human foot that fell off his line just feet from the boat.

Search crews eventually spotted the lifeless missing foot in the murky waters and were relieved to find that it was only a Halloween prop.

“He was a reliable source,” said Gurnee Fire Department Batallion Chief John Skillman. “He did spot a foot, but it wasn't human.”

Divers from the Antioch Fire Department Dive Team and investigators from the Lake County sheriff's office responded to Lake Marie around 9 a.m. after three fisherman trolling early Wednesday morning reported the hooked foot, officials said.

The fake foot was eventually found with the help of side-scanning sonar around 6:30 p.m., and the search was called off, according to the sheriff's office.

Lake County sheriff's Lt. Christopher Thompson said deputies were called to the southwest shore of the lake where the two adult fisherman and the child hooked the foot.

Thompson said in a release Thursday that the prop was found at 5:30 p.m.