Crime & Safety

Update: 2 Senior Citizens Died This Week in Milliken Lake, Kankakee River

The first body was recovered Wednesday, and another was found Friday morning.

Will County Coroner Patrick K. O'Neil has released the name of the second man found in the water in as many days in Wilmington.

Norman L. Barker, 64, Joliet, was determined to have died as a result of drowning, but the coroner media line notes that he also had significant heart disease.

Barker is the second of two elderly people who have died in the past few days on bodies of water within two miles of one another.

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"There seems to be no commonality between the two (incidents,)" Wilmington Fire Deputy Chief Todd Friddle said.

The first call came in late Tuesday night, but a body was not recovered until the next day. The second call came in just after 8 a.m. Friday.

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The first body was recovered Wednesday from the Des Plaines Conservation area on Milliken Lake. Another body was found Friday in the Des Plaines Conservation area boat launch on the Kankakee River.

The Herald News reported the name of the first victim as Thomas E. Burke, 72, of Wilmington.

Both areas fall within the Wilmington Fire Protection District. The first body was found Wednesday east of Interstate 55, and the one on Friday was found west of Interstate 55

A small section of the Des Plaines River on the west side of Interstate 55, on the south side of the river falls within the village limits of Channahon. Local residents, including those from , and , use the Des Plaines and Kankakee rivers for fishing, boating and other recreational activities.


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