Missing Chicago pastor's body pulled from Des Plaines River near Joliet, Illinois
ROCKDALE, Ill. (CBS) — The body of a missing Chicago pastor was pulled from the Des Plaines River near Joliet on Tuesday, a week after he went missing.
Pastor Warren Beard, 53, went missing while visiting a friend in Joliet last week. He was last seen on Tuesday, July 2.
The recovery of his body and car followed a search that took hours as investigators battled murky waters, bad weather, and nightfall. While the search for Pastor Beard has come to an end, the grief for his loved ones has only just begun.
"I can't even begin to describe the pain that we're feeling right now," said Chenier Alston, senior pastor of the New Israelite Missionary Baptist Church on Chicago's South Side—where Beard was an assistant pastor. "This is not the outcome that we prayed for; that we wanted."
The Rockdale Fire Department was called to the scene of the submerged car around 11 a.m. on Tuesday. Officers from multiple police agencies were at the scene about 150 yards west of Brandon Road in Rockdale.
Representatives from the Brandon Road Locks shared a surveillance video from the Army Corps of Engineers showing a car traveling south on Brandon Road on July 2. The car was seen leaving the roadway and falling into the water a little before 11 p.m. that night.
"The only discernible object is a vehicle leaving Brandon Road and falling into the river. That's all we can tell," said Channahon Fire Protection District Chief John Petrakis. "We can't tell if there was anybody else behind him, or if there was another vehicle at the top side of Brandon Road."
Officials said the driver of the car drove around roadblocks, and through a small gap between the bridge and the road. The bridge has been raised for over a year and a half.
The car was small enough to have been driven under the bridge through a gap.
Initially, the car could not be identified due to the murky waters of the Des Plaines River.
"A lot of traffic," said Rockdale Deputy Police Chief Robert Baikie. "We estimate probably 25 to 30 barges have gone through there, which disturbs everything; pushes everything. So it was hard locating the water."
But before nightfall, the car was recovered and identified as Beard's car.
Beard's family said they had not heard from him since July 2 when he was last seen. It was believed he was last seen in Joliet in the 400 block of North Broadway Street, not far from the Des Plaines River.
He was visiting a friend in Joliet. His wife said she expected him home after visiting since he had work the next day.
At the scene, Beard's loved ones said they have a difficult time understanding what could have happened.
"We want answers—and whatever those answers are, we're going to get justice for him," said Pastor Alston. "We're going to get justice for him."
Although Rockdale first responders helped with the search and recovery of Pastor Beard, the Illinois State Police are investigating the crash. Chicago Police were also on the scene late Tuesday, as Beard was reported missing from Chicago.
