Human remains located in Lake Michigan at the beginning of May have finally been indentified as belonging to Natally Brookson, 22, a University of Illinois at Chicago student who was reported missing on August 30th. At the time of her disappearance, Brookson was studying psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Brookson was last seen at her place of work, an assisted living community for adults who are blind where she worked as a dietary aide. Brookson’s death has yet to be determined, and the police are investigating the incident.
In addition to the disappearance of Brookson, the search also continues for 26-year-old Daniel Sotelo, who was Brookson’s boyfriend at the time of her disappearance. Sotelo was last seen the day before Brookson was last seen, August 29th near the 700 block of South Racine Avenue near the UIC campus where he was a grad student. At the time of his disappearance, he was only days away from finally graduating with a masters degree in organic chemistry.
A search party for Sotelo was set to be conducted on Sunday, May 15 based on a post in a Facebook group entitled Find Daniel Sotelo. According to his family, Sotelo was in the middle of planning a graduation celebration just before he disappeared. He was reportedly dropped off by his roommate at the Roosevelt stop on the Chicago Transit Authority’s Red Line. Sotelo told the roommate he was going north from there.
A GoFundMe page has been set up on behalf of Brookson’s family to help with the impending funeral expenses. To date, the campaign has raised nearly $14,800 of a $15,000 goal. That page denotes Brookson as “passionate, ambitious, and everything you would want in a friend.”
Chicago police describe Daniel as a Hispanic man standing 5 feet, 8 inches, and weighing 155 pounds. He has brown eyes, brown hair, and a medium complexion, they said.