Weeklong search for missing Grayslake North High School teen resumes
The search for the Grayslake North High School student who went missing in Lake Michigan near Waukegan resumed Friday after being hampered all week by dangerous conditions.
Waukegan fire marshal Steve Lenzi said that enough ice drifted in to the search area Tuesday that it became too dangerous to continue searching. The ice had cleared up enough Friday that emergency crews were able to deploy two search robots designed to crawl atop the rocks underwater to help find the missing teen. He said after a day of searching that they had yet to locate the teen.
The Grayslake North High School student, who has not been identified by authorities, went missing about 4:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, after jumping into the lake to help someone who had slipped off a pier at Stiner Pavilion.
District 127 Superintendent Mikkel Storaasli said teachers and students continue to hold out hope for the student.
He said the district has provided counselors since classes resumed Tuesday to anyone who needed to talk.
"We really have a fantastic student body, and they are supporting each other, and a fantastic staff who are concerned about the missing student and are concerned for the current students as well," Storaasli said.
Lenzi said it is too cold to send divers into the water to search until the robots locate something.
"We're getting flustered," Lenzi said of the long search. "We'd just like to have closure for the family."