The body of a missing Chicago pastor who was last seen last week has been recovered along with his vehicle from the Des Plaines River in Rockdale, according to the Will County coroner.
Pastor Warren Beard of New Israelite Missionary Baptist Church was last seen on July 2, when his vehicle was captured on a license plate reader camera near the intersection of Jefferson and Larkin streets in Joliet around 10:30 p.m.
Fire officials confirmed the vehicle was found in the Des Plaines River just after 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, nearly four hours after authorities were notified of video footage that showed the vehicle washing into the Des Plaines River on Tuesday evening.
Authorities did not initially identify the body, but Beard’s family told NBC Chicago that the body found in the car was that of Warren Beard, and the Will County coroner later confirmed that the body was Beard’s.
Beard was an assistant pastor and Sunday school teacher at the church and was 53 years old.
“He was a great guy, one of the best men I’ve ever met in my life,” said the Rev. Chenier Alston, who worked with Beard at the church for 18 years.
Police said at a press conference Tuesday evening that a fisherman near where Beard’s vehicle went into the water heard a loud noise but didn’t see anything when he approached the area where he heard the noise.
On Monday, community members gathered at Auburn Gresham Church to pray.
“Pastor Beard is a very important person to us,” Alston said.
Alston called Beard around 8:30 Tuesday night.
“He was upbeat, happy, joking like always, and the call ended with the usual ‘I love you,'” Alston said.
That was the last he, and Beard’s family, heard from him.
“We’re all hurting right now,” Beard’s aunt, Teresa Voss French, said. “We all know that Rev. Warren Beard is not the kind of person who would just disappear without telling his family.”
Family members said the father of five was a frequent visitor to Joliet because he had friends in the area, but he did not return home Tuesday night and did not show up to work for the Affordable Housing Preservation Association on Wednesday morning.
“That’s not like him,” Alston said. “That’s not like him to abandon his family and not come home.”
Police said their investigation found no indication of foul play.
