Family Releases Statement After 21-Year-Old Polish Businessman's Body Found in Lake Michigan

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The family of a 21-year-old Polish man found dead in Lake Michigan at Chicago's popular Oak Street Beach following a holiday party released a statement to NBC 5 Thursday.

Krzysztof Szubert's sister, Ann Szubert, said in a statement that her brother was a "good, sensitive, intelligent child" and was her parents' "sun in their old age."

"He was a practicing Catholic praying several times a day, he was obliging, helpful to everyone, he couldn't lie," she wrote. "He loved photography, cycling, running, walking. As a child he practiced swimming, he didn't take drugs, he didn't smoke, he didn't have a girlfriend yet."

His sister said Szubert communicated with his family often and had been preparing to travel home later this month.

"He counted the days," she said.

Krzysztof Szubert was a businessman and had been working in Chicago since November.

According to officials, he went missing around 9:45 p.m. Saturday during a holiday party at the River North bar Howl at the Moon.

"I saw him standing there, then the next moment he wasn’t there,” friend Michal Wojasinski told NBC 5. “Nobody saw him leaving. The next day, on Sunday, I went to his room and knocked on door – it was empty – he was not there.”

Authorities say around 1:55 a.m. Wednesday, police responded to a call about a 21-year-old man who was found unresponsive in the water near the 1000 block of North DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

The man was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later, police said.

While officials have not released a cause of death, detectives have referred to the incident as a death investigation rather than a drowning.

"We at Howl at the Moon are saddened by what happened to the young man and our deepest condolences go out to his family," a spokesperson for the business told NBC Chicago in a statement.

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