Body Found in Belmont Harbor is Missing Loyola Student

Christopher Evans panicked in Roscoe's Tavern before running off, friends say

A body recovered Thursday morning from Lake Michigan in Belmont Harbor is that of a missing Loyola University student.

Chicago police canceled the missing person alert for Christopher Evans on Thursday afternoon, stating he is "no longer unaccounted for." No further details on the investigation were immediately available.

Police recovered the body from Lake Michigan in Belmont Harbor Thursday morning.

Authorities received a call about the body around 8:30 a.m. and the Chicago Police Department Marine Unit recovered the body of a male in his 20s around 9 a.m., according to police spokesman John Mirabelli.

The body was later identified as Christopher Evans, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

An autopsy is scheduled for Friday.

The family of the missing student had offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to their missing relative.

Family and friends on Thursday continued their search for Evans, who was last seen running away from a Boystown neighborhood bar five days earlier. Friends and volunteers gathered at a coffee shop in Boystown Thursday morning to hand out fliers in hopes of finding information about his disappearance.

Evans, 25, described as a normally cool and calm man, began acting oddly at about 1:20 a.m. Sunday while hanging out at Roscoe's Tavern, in the 3300 block of North Halsted Street, friends said.

"He started saying that everyone had to get out of the bar and something was wrong, and everyone .. was kind of taken aback by that because that's not him," said Veronica Arends.

The last time anyone saw him, he'd left the bar and was seen running east on Roscoe Street, toward Lake Michigan. He was also seen inside the nearby 7-11 looking for his cellphone, Evans' father told NBC Chicago.

When Evans didn't make it to work and didn't drop a car off with his father for an appointment, friends said they knew something was wrong. Arends said friends found Evans’ car parked near the intersection of Broadway and Cornelia Avenue on Monday.

While not gay himself, the part-time grad student and employee at Loyola had just finished exams and was looking forward to celebrating the gay pride weekend, friends say.

Evans is a black man who stands about 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs about 230 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black shirt and dark jeans.

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