A missing pastor has been found dead in his vehicle submerged in a river a week after vanishing.
Reverend Warren Beard, 53, was last seen on July 2 in Joliet, Illinois, around 10.30pm near the intersection of Jefferson Street and Larkin Avenue, according to a license plate reader camera.
Authorities were notified of CCTV footage showing a vehicle driving into the Des Plaines River in Rockdale, and about four hours later, fire officials on Tuesday afternoon confirmed that the car was found.
A body inside the front seat of the vehicle was identified as belonging to Beard, who preached at New Israelite Missionary Baptist Church.
‘Reverend Beard is a very important person to us,’ said Pastor Chenier Alston, who worked with Beard at the church for 18 years, according to NBC Chicago.
Beard was a pastor assistant as well as a Sunday school teacher there.
Alston said he last called Beard on Tuesday around 8.30pm.
‘He was jovial, he was happy, he was joking as usual,’ said Alston. ‘And the phone call ended with, as we always end it, “I love you.”‘
Beard’s colleagues and family have been left baffled at what led to his death.
‘This is not like him,’ Alston said. ‘He would not abandon his family and not come home.’
Police initially said there were no signs of foul play.
The video footage showed the vehicle maneuvering around a barricade and through a roughly 5-foot opening under a drawbridge and crashing into the water.
Alston said that Beard showed no signs of wanting to kill himself and believes someone was behind it.
‘What I want answered is, Who did this?’ said Alston, according to Church Leaders.
‘And we know how passionate he was about his job, his wife, his children, so we just want answers. And whatever those answers are, we are going to get justice for him.’
Beard’s autopsy to determine his cause and manner of death was scheduled for Wednesday.
‘We are all hurting right now,’ Beard’s aunt, Theresa Boss-French, told NBC Chicago.
‘We all know Reverend Warren Beard is not someone who would just disappear without saying a word to his family.’
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