19-year-old pregnant Chicago woman found in Lake Michigan was stabbed to death, police say

Investigators say a pregnant woman found floating in Lake Michigan earlier this month had been stabbed to death.

Tips sent to police suggest she was a 19-year-old woman reported missing from Chicago, according to the Lake County sheriff’s office. She was identified as Yarianna Wheeler by the Lake County coroner’s office.

An autopsy showed Wheeler had multiple stab wounds, the sheriff’s office said. Police were conducting a homicide investigation.

Wheeler, who was about six-months pregnant, was spotted by a fisherman Aug. 15 floating in the water three miles southeast of the Waukegan Harbor.

She was likely in the water for seven to 12 days, the sheriff’s office said. She possibly entered the water anywhere from the northern Indiana shoreline to the northern Illinois shoreline of Lake Michigan.

The body of a man recovered around the same time was identified as Martin Mendoza, 49, of Waukesha, Wisconsin. He drowned near the 63rd Street Harbor in Chicago on Aug. 8.

Authorities said his drowning is not related to the death of the woman.