Police search Chain O’ Lakes for Volo mom, 2 girls

The Lake County Sheriff’s Marine Unit is searching boat launch areas and beaches in the Chain O’ Lakes as well as canvassing the area between Volo and Wauconda in search of a women and her two young children who have been missing for a week.

In the meantime, friends plan a candlelight vigil at 7 p.m. today at the woman’s Volo home and have established a Facebook page to help in the search.

Aneta M. Marsek, 33, and daughters Chevelle, 2, and Macenzie, 4 months, haven’t been seen or heard from since about 7 p.m. Oct. 6, when they left her parents’ home in Wauconda. They were reported missing by her estranged husband, Dan Marsek, who is concerned and has been cooperative, Lake County Sheriff Chief Deputy Wayne S. Hunter said.

Aneta Marsek hasn’t used credit cards or her cellphone since disappearing, Hunter said. The cellphone has been turned off, which makes locating it impossible, he said. Marsek’s black Chevrolet Trailblazer, with the license CZAJA28. hasn’t been spotted, either.

“We just have not been able to find her,” Hunter said.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Marine Unit plans to search the shoreline of four lakes: Channel, Katherine, Marie and Bluff as long as today’s weather permits, said Sgt. Karen Kates, spokeswoman for the department.

“They are in boats looking at launches and landings and beaches to see if they can find anything at all,” she said.

Deputies and others are concentrating their search today between Marsek’s parents’ home in Wauconda and her Volo house, looking for clues and talking to people along the route, said Hunter.

“At any given time we have 10 to 30 people in the search,” he said. “The grid search — a 10-mile range of her mom’s home and her home — is finished.”

Searches of retention ponds near the family home haven’t turned up any clues. The Law Enforcement Aviation Coalition and the Illinois State Police searched from the air, too.

Kristi Kunish, a friend of the couple, said Dan Marsek wants Aneta to know that she should not be afraid to come home despite an order of protection that he obtained against his wife on Thursday, days after she went missing. He plans to make a statement later today, hoping to get a message to her through the media, Kunish said.

Kunish is involved in organizing friends and family, including about 30 people who worked with Aneta Marsek at the JCPenney store in Johnsburg. Marsek and Kunish both lost their jobs at the store, and Kunish now works for Dan Marsek in his auto restoration business.

The group put out fliers provided by Dan Marsek and will obtain more from him later today, she said.

Aneta Marsek filed for divorce in June, according to court records. Both Marseks filed for orders of protection against each other, records show.

Dan Marsek made his request Thursday, days after reporting his wife missing, records show.

Kunish said the couple were separated but “working on it”. Dan Marsek has been staying with his parents, but both families are working together to find Aneta and the children, she added.

Stefanie Russell, whose husband, Chris, grew up with Dan Marsek in Wauconda, described Aneta as an “awesome mom”.

“We’re just hoping she needed time to breathe and think,” she said.

Police have no evidence of foul play, Hunter said, but they haven’t ruled anything out.

Working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the sheriff’s police has sent out more than 9,000 faxed reports about the Marseks. The center also has alerted truck drivers in Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa, police said.

Aneta Marsek is about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs about 150 pounds. She has brown hair and hazel eyes.

Chevelle Marsek is 2 years old. She has brown hair and brown eyes.

Macenzie Marsek is 4 months old. She has brown hair and brown eyes.

Kunish said she had no idea what might have happened or why Aneta left.

“She’s amazing. She’s happy. She’s loving,” Kunish said. She described Aneta as a “wonderful mother” and someone who could make her feel better when she was down.

“I’m just blown away,” she said.

Information about the case is available at missingkids.com. A Facebook page with fliers about the Marseks has been created, too.

Anyone with information regarding Aneta Marsek and her children can call sheriff’s police at (847) 377-4250 or (847) 549-5200.

Ÿ Daily Herald Reporters Russell Lissau and Mick Zawisklak contributed to this story.