Boater's Drowning On Des Plaines Fuels Questions

CHANNAHON, IL - It is now up to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and its conservation officers to uncover the true facts regarding Sunday night's tragedy on the Des Plaines River that claimed the life of 47-year-old Baldur Kirsch Jr. He was a union concrete finisher in Will and Grundy Counties. The Minooka man also leaves behind a teenage daughter. There are lots of questions about how he died.

On Monday, the Channahon Fire Protection District, which oversaw the search and recovery efforts, issued a statement indicating Kirsch had jumped into the water. The statement did not indicate who told the Chananhon Fire Department that information, but Patch has since learned the statement may have been provided by people on Kirsch's boat and their stories might not be credible.

Kirsch's body surfaced on Tuesday about a mile downstream from the area where authorities started searching for him.

ORIGINAL STORY: Boater's Body Has Not Surfaced From Water

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Here are some of the key questions the Illinois Department of Natural Resources will have to determine over the coming days:

Why would Kirsch supposedly jump into the river when he was not able to swim?

The first press release, issued Monday morning, states "the Channahon Fire Protection District was dispatched for a water rescue July 8, 2018 at 6:52 p.m. for a male who jumped off a recreational boat into the Des Plaines River and never surfaced."

However, Patch was told by several people who have known Kirsch for years that he was an experienced and avid boater who knew the Des Plaines River inside and out. He was also regarded as a careful boater, even when he was drinking. Knowing those facts, why would Kirsch, who could not swim and was not wearing a life jacket, dive into a deep section of the river? Fire officials said that many sections of the Des Plaines River were up to 25 feet deep.

Patch was also told that Kirsch was found wearing his shoes, his socks and had his wallet with him when his body was recovered on Tuesday.

If Kirsch supposedly dove into the water and did not resurface, why were the three remaining people on his boat seen joyriding without him?

Patch was told that another boater on the Des Plaines River around dinner time Sunday saw Kirsch's boat out joyriding and only three people were on board and he was not one of them. Authorities were not notified of Kirsch's disappearance until around 6:50 p.m. This scenario, if true, raises the possibility that Kirsch may have accidentally fallen into the water, perhaps while he was going to the bathroom, and the other three people on his boat may have hit the gas and taken off, not realizing he had tumbled into the water and needed to be rescued, until several minutes later.

Why didn't the people on Kirsch's boat report him missing immediately?

The three remaining people left on Kirsch's boat ultimately drove his boat over to the Big Basin marina which is closer to Channahon, rather than Big Fish Grille, which is closer to Wilmington. It's also unclear who called 911 authorities. If the three other people on Kirsch's boat had cell phones, why did not they call 911 immediately? Additionally, there were numerous other boaters on the Des Plaines and nearby Kankakee Rivers. Did the guy and two women driving Kirsch's boat try to flag down other boaters for help?

Why were other people driving Kirsch's boat on Sunday night?

Kirsch ordinarily did not let other people drive his boat, several sources told Patch. The boat involved in Sunday night's drowning was his boat. Did someone on his boat accidentally or inadvertently attempt to drive the boat while Kirsch had stepped away, causing him to fall into the water and drown?

Has evidence been destroyed?

Kirsch and his group were likely drinking that day on the water, according to several people who knew him intimately. Once the people on his boat realized he was gone, did they drive the boat to the Big Basin because it was an easy place to discard empty liquor bottles and beer cans before police and firefighters got to the scene to start asking questions?

Images of Baldur Kirsch Jr. provided to Joliet Patch with permission to use