Pastor mysteriously vanishes and is found dead in submerged car, Illinois officials say

The body of a beloved pastor missing for six days was found in a vehicle submerged in an Illinois river, officials said.

Will County Coroner Laurie Summers announced July 9 the death of 53-year-old Rev. Warren C. Beard, whose body she said was found earlier in the day in the Des Plaines River in Rockdale.

Beard was the assistant pastor and Sunday school teacher for Chicago’s New Israelite Missionary Baptist Church.

Chenier Alston, the senior pastor at the church, said in a Facebook post his friend and colleague’s death brought him “silence, pain, tears and unanswered questions.”

In a news briefing Tuesday, Alston called Beard “one of the greatest men” he’s met in his life.

“We lost a man who loved his wife, loved his children, loved his family,” Alston said in the briefing streamed by Patch. “A man who loved God with everything in him. A man who was passionate about his faith.”

Beard was reported missing to the Chicago Police Department on July 2, and police said he was last seen that day in Joliet, about a 45-mile drive southwest from downtown Chicago.

Crews began searching the Des Plaines River in Rockdale, a neighboring town of Joliet, on July 9 after Brandon Road Lock officials reviewed surveillance footage, Rockdale Fire Protection District Chief David Brady said in a news briefing streamed by Patch.

The surveillance footage revealed a car went into the water around 10 p.m. on July 2, Brady said.

The vehicle was pulled out of the water Tuesday afternoon and had been submerged in about 8 feet of water, fire officials said in the briefing. The car was found in “murky” water that had been disturbed by at least 25 barges that had passed in the previous week, making it difficult for investigators to find it.

Authorities said remains were found in the vehicle, and Tuesday night Summers confirmed the remains found in the driver’s seat were of Beard.

An autopsy will be performed Wednesday, July 10, to determine a cause of death, according to the coroner.

“This is not the outcome we prayed for, that we wanted,” Alston said. “This is a devastating loss for us all, a devastating loss for his family, for the church. I can’t even put into words how painful this is.”

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Beard had been a pastor at the church for six years. He was in Joliet visiting people he knew, according to the publication.