Coroner IDs Man Found Dead In Truck In Des Plaines River

LAKE COUNTY, IL — A 79-year-old man who was found dead inside his pick-up truck after it went into the Des Plaines River near Gurnee Thursday evening has been identified.

An autopsy shows Antoine Pierre, of Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, died from blunt force injuries sustained as a result of the incident, which happened when his 2016 Toyota Tacoma went into the Des Plaines River near a home in the 36500 block of North Route 41 in unincorporated Gurnee, according to a news release from the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

A man who lives at the home found the truck after arriving home and finding tire tracks in his yard, which he followed to the river, according to the news release. Police responded and found Pierre dead inside the truck.

Authorities ran the license plate on the Toyota and learned it fled from a police department about 1.5 miles away at about 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday. Authorities also learned it was called in as a wrong way driver at about 3:40 a.m. in the area of Route 173 and Kilbourne Road.

The crash remains under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Technical Crash Investigations Team.