Chicago police are investigating after the bodies of a 31-year-old woman, a 6-year-old boy and an infant girl were recovered from Lake Michigan on the city’s South Side on Saturday, authorities said.
The infant was found about 11:30 a.m. and was pronounced dead at the scene, the Chicago Police Department said. The boy and the woman were pulled from the water just before 2:30 p.m. and also were pronounced dead at the scene; they were located about a mile from where the infant was found.
Police said the deaths are "suspicious" and believed to be connected to a possible domestic dispute, but investigators have not identified the victims or released a cause of death pending autopsies by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. The department said it is not currently searching for any possible suspects.
A witness who observed responders remove the infant described the scene to WGN, saying: "They brought her in, and they came up on the dock to put her on the stretcher. Her little hands were so stiff." Another bystander told the station the child was discolored and there was foam at her nose and lips. A local, identified only as Ronald, told WGN the incident "just hits close to home."
The National Weather Service reported water temperatures around 70 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday morning. Lake Michigan borders Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan.
Authorities have not provided additional details about the circumstances leading up to the recoveries, and the medical examiner's office has not yet released identifications or official determinations of cause and manner of death. The Chicago Police Department and the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office are handling the investigation and the autopsy process.
The case remains under active investigation. Police asked anyone with information to contact the department; they did not indicate any immediate public safety threat related to the recoveries.
Further information, including the results of autopsies and formal identification of the deceased, is expected as investigators continue to develop the case.