Missing Woman, Dead Man Identified After Highland Park Group Swim

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — One man drowned and a woman remains missing after getting caught in rough waters with a group of swimmers in Lake Michigan Sunday morning in Highland Park. Local police and fire departments were called to Park Avenue Beach around 9:15 a.m. for a report that 10 people who had gone swimming as part of an "independent cold water swim group" had encountered difficulty due to lake conditions, according to a release from the Highland Park Fire Department.

Arriving emergency personnel at the scene learned two swimmers were missing and in distress. Rescuers found an unresponsive 46-year-old Itasca man in the water and brought him to the beach. The man, identified by the Lake County Coroner's Office as Stanislaw Wlosek, Jr., was taken to Highland Park Hospital and pronounced dead upon arrival.

A 52-year-old Elgin woman, identified by Highland Park city staff as Lena Lemesh, was not immediately found and remained missing as of Monday evening after a second day of search operations.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter arrived around 11:45 a.m. Sunday to assist with the search, according to Highland Park city staff. Lake conditions were too hazardous for search crews on boats to enter the area. Highland Park has advised departments along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Illinois and Wisconsin to monitor their beaches for the missing Elgin woman.

When the search resumed Monday with shoreline checks on foot and five boats in the Lake, Highland Park police and firefighters were assisted by the Coast Guard, a canine unit from the Lake County Coroner's Office, searches from the air by the Chicago Police Department and the volunteer group Pilots for Hope, as well as the North Shore Yacht Club. Searches were called off at sundown and are due to resume Tuesday morning.

Park Avenue Beach is managed by the Park District of Highland Park. Swimming and wading are never permitted there. According to the Highland Park Fire Department, the swimming group entered the water in the area of the boat launch.

NOV. 11 UPDATE: Body Found In Highland Park Beach Thought To Be Elgin Woman

DEVELOPING: At least one person was reportedly rescued and one other person was still missing after a group of people went into dangerous Lake Michigan waters Sunday morning. https://t.co/mE8ykShlsi pic.twitter.com/cmzIpcjS4R
— LakeMcHenryScanner (@LMCScanner) November 4, 2018