Missing Chicago special education teacher found dead in Lake Michigan

A woman’s body that was dredged out of Lake Michigan on Monday was that of a missing special education teacher from Chicago, officials confirmed.

Linda Brown, 53, was found dead in Lake Michigan near the South Side of Chicago just before noon Monday, according to the Chicago Police Department.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that the recovered corpse was Brown, a local teacher who vanished over a week ago after a cozy movie night with her husband, Antwon.

Brown’s distraught family also positively ID’d the body and told ABC 7 in a text message that they are all “absolutely heartbroken.”

Brown was last seen on Jan. 3 in the 4500 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Bronzeville, about two miles southwest of the White Sox’s Rate Field, according to police. At the time, she was behind the wheel of a blue 2021 Honda Civic and presumably en route to her weekly acupuncture appointment.

Investigators discovered her abandoned car near East 35th Street and South Lake Park Avenue on Jan. 7 — just two miles away from where she was last seen.

On Friday afternoon, police said that they recovered surveillance video that showed Brown in the same area where her car was located. Her family told ABC 7 that in the video, Brown is seen walking alone over a pedestrian bridge that leads to the lakefront around 3 a.m. Saturday.

Antwon said that he “broke down” when he woke up early Saturday morning and realized Brown was nowhere to be found.

“I don’t know what to do. I’ve done everything. I’m talking to people, we’ve got people searching for her. I’m out of options,” Antwon pleaded.

Police are still investigating Brown’s death and awaiting autopsy results.

It’s unclear how Brown wound up in the water. Her cause of death has not been announced.