Badly Burned Car Belonged To Mom Of IL Basketball Coach

LAKE COUNTY, IL — The son of a missing teacher is holding out hope that the body found badly burned inside a vehicle over the weekend is not his mother. Authorities have not yet confirmed the identity of the individual but did say the vehicle, found burning in the 36500 block of North Route 41 in Warren Township Saturday night, did belong to the missing woman. Kathleen Ryan was supposed to meet her son, Zack, at a basketball game at Carmel Catholic Preparatory School in Mundelein, according to media reports and post on Zack’s Facebook page.

She was last seen in St. Francis, Wis., around noon on Saturday, and never showed up to the game, which started at 4:30 p.m. Zack coaches for the Carmel boys basketball team and teaches mathematics at the school, according to the school’s website and the team’s Facebook page.

Zack told Fox 6 Now Kathleen’s cell phone is going straight to voicemail and the family spent the weekend frantically looking for Kathleen.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies found the burning vehicle at 9:50 p.m. on Saturday.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze and found the badly burned body inside, and the Lake County Coroner’s Office was called to the scene to investigate.

“An inspection of the vehicle revealed it had been previously driven by a woman reported as missing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” Christopher Covelli, a spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, said. “Identification of the body located inside the car has not yet been confirmed.”

Ryan’s family is trying to remain positive and hoping the person inside the car is not Kathleen.

"So our hope is someone stole the car and that's not her in there," Zack Ryan told Fox 6 Now.

Coroner Howard Cooper told the Lake County News-Sun his staff anthropologist would examine the bones and evidence found in the burning car to determine the identity of the person. The race, gender and age of the individual was not known as of Monday morning, he said.

Cooper said his staff anthropologist will be involved in the investigation, studying bones and other evidence found in the car.

The investigation into the incident remains ongoing by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Lake County Coroner’s Office, and Office of the State Fire Marshal.

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PHOTO VIA SHUTTERSTOCK