On June 26th, 2019, a barge operator reported a boat mostly submerged on the Chicago River. Later that morning, about 3 miles down the river, they found a deceased male subject floating with a life jacket on.
On June 27th, I received a call from one of the victim’s family members, requesting for our assistance in locating the three remaining boaters. I was able to recruit Bob Carpenter to go out on this search. We left that afternoon and arrived in Chicago that evening. We got to the marina on early Friday morning
The DNR had supplied us with the location of where the boat was found.
We soon found two targets in this area. Once the DNR arrived, we shared our information. They decided to call in the Chicago PD divers to make the recoveries. While we waited for them, we continued to search the third victim. After some time, Ricky Daciolas, Jr. was recovered. We then went back to mark the second victim for them, and that target was no longer there. We spent the rest of the day trying to locate the two remaining missing boaters with no success.
We met with the families to update them on our day’s progress. I told them that I felt that the two remaining are most likely moving in the current downstream. The water temperature was in the upper 60’s and as a result, they would most likely be on the surface sometime over the weekend.
Saturday June 29, Raul Cazares, Jr. was located on the surface followed by Joe Dalesandro, who was found on Sunday on the surface.
Our sincere condolences go out to the families.