Body found off beach; missing girl's family fears worst

May 25, 2012 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- A body was found Friday morning in Lake Michigan near the area where a teenager disappeared while swimming with friends Thursday.

Lexie Adu, 15, was last seen in the water at Loyola Park Beach Thursday night. She was swimming with two other girls when they had be rescued. The Chicago Fire Department pulled two girls out of the cold, choppy water, but not Lexie.

The body was found around 10:45 a.m. near the breakwall. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office has not positively identified the body.

Meanwhile, Adu's family is still praying for a miracle.

Although authorities at the scene would not confirm the age or gender of the body, Adu's family was overwhelmed with grief. Her father, Frank Adu, fell to his knees Friday morning on Loyola Beach while divers searched. He said his daughter is a straight-A student at St. Scholastica and had been planning on being a doctor.

"She is the first person I have seen that wanted to be a doctor, not just for the money but to do good. She devoted her life to be a doctor," said Frank Adu.

Lexie never knew how to swim, so her father doesn't know why she went in the water.

"We know the daughter's not going to come back, but we know all memories are in the mind. We'll keep her spirit around us," Kelvin Baah, family friend, said.

The high winds and waves made the search and rescue on Thursday challenging for divers beneath the waves and the police marine unit and fire department boats on the water's surface.

Adu and her friends went swimming the day before Chicago beaches officially open again for the season. Lifeguards were back on duty for the summer at 11 a.m. Friday. They were not on duty Thursday.

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local, evelyn holmes

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