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Body found by hikers identified as missing Round Lake Park man

The body found inside a crashed car has been identified as a Round Lake Park man who has been missing for two weeks, but authorities don't know why the car was a quarter-mile off the roadway in a grove of trees.

Dale F. Kropke, 76, died of multiple traumatic injuries as a result of the crash in a field near the 20300 block of West Winchester Road in unincorporated Lake County near Mundelein, Lake County Coroner Dr. Howard Cooper said Monday.

How Kropke's 2010 Toyota Prius ended up in the remote location, about a half mile south of Winchester Road and a third of a mile east of Route 83, remains unknown and is under investigation, Cooper said.

"Our main concern at this point is toxicology results," Cooper said. "We are going to look at everything, the toxicology and his medical history to see if there are any answers there."

Cooper said Kropke was "technically" a Grayslake resident. Round Lake Park Police Chief George Filenko said Kropke's house is in Round Lake Park, but has a Grayslake ZIP code.

Kropke was last heard from March 5 about 10:30 a.m., before heading to a medical appointment at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Filenko said.

Three young hikers found Kropke in the driver's seat of his gold Toyota Prius about 11:10 a.m. Sunday. It had crashed into the grove of trees in the field, Filenko said.

A preliminary investigation shows the Toyota was traveling east on Winchester, drove into the field and traveled south until hitting a tree.

Police searched the area with a drone twice in previous weeks but did not see the car, he said.

"The color of the car matched the ground, making it nearly impossible to see," Filenko said. "If those hikers didn't come across it, the car may have remained missing until spring."

Filenko said the accident remains under investigation.

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