Body found at Promontory Point identified as missing boater Bryan Jackson
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A body pulled from Lake Michigan near Promontory Point on Sunday has been identified as a boater who disappeared off McCormick Place last week.
Police said a man's body was found around 10:15 a.m. Sunday in the 5400 block of South DuSable Lake Shore Drive. He was found unresponsive on the rocks at Promontory Point and was pronounced dead on the scene.
Monday afternoon, the Cook County Medical Examiner's office identified the victim as 38-year-old Bryan Jeffrey Jackson.
Jackson had not been seen since he was on a boat near 31st Street Harbor when he went into the water near McCormick Place on Tuesday morning.
Family and friends have said the information from those on the same boat is inconsistent.
On Wednesday night, cellphone video provided to CBS 2 showed Jackson, along with family and friends, on the boat.
"We all have the same objective of making sure we find Bryan safe and sound," said Jackson's girlfriend, Sarah Virani.
Jackson is a father of two kids and a master trainer with the Nike and Jordan brand.
Rescue crews said he jumped off the 27-foot boat about a mile offshore from McCormick Place around 9 a.m. Tuesday and went swimming with a woman.
The woman returned, but Jackson never came up.
Chicago Police boats, Chicago Fire Department divers, and the U.S. Coast Guard spent much of the day Tuesday searching for Jackson.
The Fire Department said the search for Jackson was later switched to a recovery effort, with CPD taking the lead. Police resumed the effort on Wednesday.
Rev. Tanya Lozano Washington co-parents with Jackson. She said he takes his health and conditioning seriously, so she struggles to understand what happened.
"They jumped in together, and I guess the current started to take them, and she said he panicked. Again, I'm trying to explain to you this doesn't make sense," she said. "And so, that's it. That's all we know. We don't have any further information, and we can't seem to get any real confirmation on who's looking for him."
Lozano Washington said she and other loved ones want more complete answers.
"I want a thorough investigation. I don't want - we just assume he drowned, I want it to be looked at," she said. "What about that boat? Is anyone looking at that boat, looking for evidence on that boat?"
On Thursday, family and friends will return to 31st Street Beach to try to search from the shore.
"Bryan is strong. He is the most mentally and physically strong person I know - and I know he's out there waiting for us," said Virani.
Those who know Jackson said they still have questions – mainly the notion that he willingly jumped into the water, which is something he never did.
"Bryan don't get in the water," said Jackson's cousin, Steve Taylor Jr. "I've been on many and plenty of boats with Bryan. He don't get in the water."
"I don't believe that he jumped off that boat," added Lozano Washington.
Autopsy results for Jackson were not available Monday afternoon.
