Body of Missing Chicago Student Found in Lake Michigan

June 19, 2013 — -- A body found in Lake Michigan has been identified as missing University of Chicago student Austin LaPore, investigators said.

"The family of Austin Hudson LaPore positively identified his body earlier today," an official with the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office told ABC News.

Authorities pulled the body of LaPore, 20, out of Lake Michigan this morning after he went missing one week ago, ABC News Chicago station WLS-TV reported.

LaPore's father, Gregg LaPore, was with the recovery team when his son's body was discovered.

"He is still in the grieving process, totally shaken by the discovery of this body," family spokesman Andrew Holmes told WLS-TV before the body's identification was confirmed. "He is in shock, wants to be close to his family, but he did think that it is good to have friends that he never knew, which is us, working with him, the media working with him. It brings him some comfort."

Police will conduct an autopsy Thursday to determine the cause of death, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Eddie Hudson, a fisherman, found LaPore's body early this morning and called the police.

"I got out and walked over to the lakefront and I looked to my right, and I saw something in the water that appeared to be a log," Hudson told WLS-TV. "So I looked a little closer and it appeared to be a dummy. So I stopped fishing and went to look again, and then I asked a person that was over there exercising to come down and confirm. So they got excited, and they left. So that's when I called 911."

The discovery came a day after a K-9 team determined that LaPore had spent a significant amount of time on the coast of Lake Michigan last Wednesday night, when severe storms created powerful winds and wave action that could have pulled him in, according to an update to a LaPore family website, www.findaustinhudson.com.

LaPore was last seen Wednesday night when he left his Hyde Park apartment to watch unusually strong weather over Lake Michigan.

The University of Chicago, where LaPore was a student, mourned his loss.

"We are deeply saddened by the news today that third-year University of Chicago student Austin Hudson-LaPore has died and was found this morning in Lake Michigan," Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Karen Warren Coleman said in a prepared statement. "Austin was a bright, promising student who was active on campus, had a great love for the outdoors, and was very engaged."

According to WLS-TV, the LaPore family will attend a news conference later today.