82-Year-Old Drowns At Joliet Forest Preserve: Coroner

JOLIET —Will County Coroner Laurie Summers has announced that an 82-year-old Joliet man, identified as Gary Martin, was found dead Sunday afternoon at the Rock Run Rookery. Martin's death is being treated as a drowning.

According to Summers, Martin was pronounced dead at 12:17 p.m. at the Rock Run Rookery in the 23000 block of South Youngs Road in Joliet, near Route 6. The Will County Forest Preserve Police are investigating the incident, and an autopsy was performed on Monday.

Will County Forest Preserve Police noted that Martin's family in Joliet asked police to do a welfare check after he didn't show up for an appointment on Sunday in Shorewood. Because it was raining much of Sunday, there were very few visitors to the Rock Run Rookery. However, one of the visitors discovered Martin's body near the fishing pier lookout toward the front of the forest preserve and notified the police.

When authorities retrieved Martin's body, he was wearing clothes. He was not fishing and did not have a fishing gear, authorities told Joliet Patch. His wallet and identification were found inside his vehicle. Alcohol was found on the pier, but the police are awaiting the toxicology reports, which may take six to eight weeks, to learn whether alcohol or other drugs were a contributing factor.

Deputy Police Chief David Barrios noted that the Rock Run Rookery opens at 6 a.m. now that it is on summer hours to accommodate people who fish. He said that his officers locked the gates on Saturday night and that Martin's vehicle definitely was not at the forest preserve until sometime on Sunday morning.

This marks the first drowning death at any of the Will County Forest Preserves so far in 2025.

According to Will County, the 224-acre Rock Run Rookery Preserve was acquired between 2002 and 2011. The preserve is part of the Rock Run preservation system, which conserves more than 1,450 acres. Prior to the District's acquisition of the land, its two lakes were created and used for quarrying.