Search Suspended for Possible Second Victim in Lynwood Pond

LYNWOOD, IL — Authorities on Thursday went back to search for a possible second victim after a car crashed into a Lynwood retention pond car earlier in the week, but efforts were suspended around 7 p.m.

One person—27-year-old Christopher Stone of Chicago Heights—was found dead inside the car after it was pulled from the pond Monday. A witness told police they believe to have seen two people inside the vehicle just before it entered the water.

Police were called to the scene in Lynwood around 12:30 p.m. Sunday after a 911 call reporting that a car left the roadway and went into a sanitation district retention pond off the 3000 block of Lincoln Highway. The car was eastbound on Lincoln Highway when it left the road, drove across a field and into the pond, which is about 30 feet deep, Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Stone was not wearing a seat belt, so authorities are not able to determine if he was the driver or passenger. An autopsy did not determine his cause or manner of death pending further investigation, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

A witness told police they saw one person surface, then go back under, just after the crash. WGN is reporting that the family of 26 year-old Leandre Scott, also of Chicago Heights, believe he's the other victim. Crews used sonar equipment to aid in the search, with negative results.

Fire officials are not likely to return to the pond Friday, but the investigation is ongoing, Cook County sheriff's police spokeswoman Sophia Ansari told the Times of Northwest Indiana.