Body found on Highland Park beach is missing Elgin woman
Lake County coroner's officials have identified the body found last weekend on the Lake Michigan waterfront as that of an Elgin woman who disappeared Nov. 4 while swimming with a cold-water swimming group.
Preliminary autopsy results determined Lena Lemesh, 52, died of drowning. The investigation into her death continues and toxicology is pending, Lake County Coroner Dr. Howard Cooper said in a news release.
"Ms. Lemesh's family has been notified and our deepest condolences go out to them. This is truly an awful tragedy," Cooper said.
Her body washed ashore Saturday morning on a beach in Fort Sheridan in Highland Park, officials said.
Lemesh disappeared off Highland Park's Park Avenue Beach while she and nine other members of a cold-water swimming group attempted to navigate what authorities described as dangerous conditions Nov. 4.
A second member of the group, Stanislaw Wlosek Jr., 46, of Itasca, was pulled from the water unresponsive by emergency responders later that day and taken to Highland Park Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Preliminary autopsy results show he also died as a result of drowning.
The Highland Park Park District said Park Avenue Beach is a non-swimming beach with sand and concrete launches for boats. A sign posted on the beach reads, "No swimming or wading allowed."