UPDATE: Authorities find body of missing Vermilion Co. swimmer

Update on May 21

DANVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) — The search for a missing 23-year-old swimmer in Vermilion County has ended with the recovery of his body.

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Jane McFadden, the Vermilion County Coroner, said the swimmer was found dead at 9:05 a.m. on Tuesday in the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River. She identified him as Jose Alberto Lopez-Fernandez of Champaign.

His family has been notified, McFadden added, and an autopsy is scheduled.

VERMILION COUNTY, Ill. (WCIA) — Authorities are actively searching the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River for a swimmer who went missing in Kickapoo State Park over the weekend.

Captain Michael Hartshorn, Chief Investigator of the Vermilion County Sheriff’s Department, said a 23-year-old man went under the river’s surface Sunday afternoon and he hasn’t been seen since. Sheriff’s deputies and officers from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Police began a search Sunday evening that paused for the night and resumed Monday morning. The search went on all day and paused again for the night.

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Because of the search, the Middle Fork was closed to recreational water activities. Tom Monahan, owner of Kickapoo Adventures, told WCIA his company had to call those with reservations and either cancel or reschedule. He said the man who disappeared was not a customer of his business.

The search comes days after Wes Kelley, reported missing from Danville on May 13, was found dead in Bar Lake on Friday.

Hartshorn said divers will be on the river again Tuesday morning.

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