Cops: Man pulled from river killed self

Authorities said a 59-year-old St. Charles man who was pulled from the Fox River Tuesday afternoon killed himself.

The man had shot himself in the head before his car went into the river Monday night, according to the Batavia Police Department.

It took emergency crews about eight hours over two days to pull the submerged silver BMW out of the river on the east bank in Batavia.

It went into the river through the parking lot of the Batavia Boat Club at 800 N. River St.

Ice, a strong current and bitter cold Tuesday morning made it difficult for diving crews to get to the car, which was in 12 to 15 feet of water.

An autopsy is scheduled for this morning.

Police were called to the scene at 7:38 p.m. Monday. A witness told police the man seemed to drive the car straight into the river, Batavia police Cmdr. Greg Thrun said.

The car floated about 150 yards down the river before going under.

Emergency personnel located the car on the river bottom and found the body inside. But they halted efforts to get the car out about 11:30 p.m. and waited until daylight.

Fourteen divers from the Aurora and St. Charles departments started working again at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Crews had to break up ice to get at the area, and divers had to be switched out often because of the cold, Thrun said.

Divers said visibility was only about a foot underwater.