A body found Monday in north suburban Waukegan has been identified as an 18-year-old man who was reported missing on Christmas.
Lucio Cambray, of Waukegan, was last seen Dec. 25, according to a statement from family and friends.
Cambray dropped off his girlfriend earlier in the day and was last seen being dropped off by a friend at a BP gas station at Jackson Street and Grand Avenue in Waukegan.
Family, friends and community members organized a search with police and the Missing Persons Awareness Network to locate Cambray.
The search was temporarily called off when a body was found about midnight Monday in a pool behind a vacant house in the 1300 block of North Jackson, Waukegan police said.
The body was positively identified as Cambray, the Lake County Coroner’s Office announced Wednesday morning. An autopsy was scheduled for Friday.
Tips given to investigators by his family led to several people being interviewed by a authorities in connection with the missing persons case, according to Julie Contreras, a spokeswoman for the family. That questioning led police to discovery of his body early Monday, she said.
“It’s a very sad day for the Cambray family,” Contreras said. “We have to mourn the loss, while at the same time we are angry about what happened to him.”
Waukegan police spokesman Joe Florip declined to comment about how investigators were led to the body. Florip said police were waiting for the results of Friday’s autopsy to determine how to proceed with the investigation.
Cambray was living with the family of a friend in Waukegan when he went missing, Contreras said. His parents live in Mexico, but he has a sister, Odalis Cambray, who lives in Waukegan. His mother is expected to arrive Monday.
“I just want to make sure that if there’s [foul play] we get justice for him,” Odalis Cambray said.