Linda Brown, a special education teacher from the Chicago area who had been reported missing, has been found dead. She was 53.
A woman’s body was recovered from Lake Michigan on the morning of Monday, Jan. 12. Chicago police said their marine unit pulled the body from the water near the 3100 block of South Lake Shore Drive on the city’s South Side, according to ABC 7 Chicago.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office later identified the woman as Brown. An official cause of death has not been released. An autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 13.
In a statement to Fox 32 Chicago, Brown’s family said her body was found in the 31st Street Harbor along the Chicago lakefront.
“This is not the outcome we were hoping or praying for, but we are grateful that she has been found and can now be brought home to our family,” the family said. They also thanked supporters and asked for privacy.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also issued a statement mourning Brown.
“As a special education teacher at Healy Elementary she made an immeasurable impact on countless young lives and was a vital member of the Bridgeport community,” he said. “I’m praying for her family, and for her students as they grieve and remember Linda and all the joy she brought.”
Brown was last seen on Saturday, Jan. 3, near the 4500 block of South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, according to a missing-persons bulletin that was later removed from the Chicago Police Department’s website.
A flyer shared on social media by the Chicago Teachers Union said Brown was headed to the Wicker Park area for an acupuncture appointment, but she never arrived and had not been heard from since.
During a Jan. 5 interview with WLS, Brown’s husband, Antwon Brown, said the couple spent the evening of Jan. 2 at home watching a movie before going to bed. He said that was the last time he saw her.
“The next morning, I woke up, it was like 8:35 a.m., and she was gone,” he said, adding that she left with her purse and credit cards. “I thought she went to acupuncture because she goes to acupuncture on Saturdays.”
When she did not return, he reported her missing.
About a week later, Antwon said her car was found without damage and had been towed by Chicago police, though neither he nor authorities provided additional details about where it was located, according to Fox 32 Chicago and CBS Chicago.
He told CBS Chicago that he and Brown had been married for 11 years and that she worked at Robert Healy Elementary School in Bridgeport.
Antwon also said she had been dealing with mental health challenges and had taken leave from work for several months.
“She has a little mental issues going on, and she took a leave of absence from her job to get help for that,” he told CBS Chicago. “As school was getting closer, it was kind of getting worse, like the anxiety, the panic attacks.”
