Body Found In Milwaukee River That Of Missing College Student

MILWAUKEE, WI — The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s office announced on Tuesday that the body that was pulled from the Milwaukee River by police on Monday is that of a 18-year-old University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student who had been missing since February. According to media reports, police recovered the body of Sean Baek shortly before 5 p.m. and the man’s identify was by the county medical examiner on Tuesday.

Milwaukee Police indicated in a news release on Tuesday that officers responded to the report of a subject in the water on the 1900 block of N. Commerce Street. According to police, the male was determined to be approximately 20 years old and was recovered from the river and pronounced dead on the scene. A police spokeswoman said Tuesday that an investigation is ongoing.

According to a report sent Tuesday evening by a medical examiner's spokeswoman, the final cause of death will be determined once a toxicology report is completed. A report from the medical examiner's office indicated Baek's body was found wedged under a pier on the west side of the river.

Baek was reported missing in the early hours of Feb. 14 and police had indicated that Baek and another student were using LSD and that the other student had a bad reaction. According to police, Baek ran out of the Cambridge Commons residence hall at around 1:25 a.m. A witness told police that they saw someone running toward the riverbank at approximately the same time.

Baek sent a text message to a family member at around 1:20 a.m. stating, “I love you guys. I am sorry.”

On Feb. 17, Milwaukee police said in a news conference that Baek, who is from McFarland, Wis., that Baek’s disappearance was not the result of foul play as social media posts suggested. Police said that Baek’s phone only pinged once, within minutes of his disappearance, when he was still near the residence hall, which Milwaukee Police Chief Joseph LeMire said in February could mean the phone is off, out of battery, damaged or submerged in water.