Family members and friends of 23-year-old father who disappeared after watching a May Chicago Blackhawks game gathered Thursday afternoon after a vehicle was pulled from a pond in Northwest Indiana.
The Lake County (Indiana) Coroner was also called to the pond in a residential area on Greenwood Avenue east of Indiana Avenue in Crown Point, an indication that a body was recovered.
For nearly six weeks, authorities and loved ones have been searching for Michael Hernandez, who was last seen at the Safe House Bar and Grill in Crown Point on May 1. Police said Hernandez left the bar in a Blue 2008 Scion Hatch, with Indiana license plate number 606LTI.
"I saw him get in his car. I got in my car. I backed out first. I left. That was it," Hernandez's friend, Jake Fleming, told NBC Chicago just a few days after the father of two twin daughters vanished.
The search for Hernandez moved to an area about 20 miles south of Crown Point about a week after he disappeared. Officials said they received a positive cell phone "ping" in the area from the man's cell phone, prompting roughly 120 volunteers to comb fields and wooded land near DeMotte.
