Search for missing man apparently over after car, body found

MUNDELEIN (Fox 32 News) - It appeared on Sunday that the search for a missing suburban man was over, after a body was found in a car wreck in Mundelein.

Dale Kropke, 76, vanished almost two weeks ago. The Round Lake Park man had been heading to a doctor's appointment in Libertyville when he disappeared.

Kropke's crashed Prius was found wedged in between trees in a field in Mundelein by three teenage hikers with a body inside. The car was a half mile from the road. Police said the Prius had been heading east on West Winchester Road, which was the route Kropke should have taken to get to his appointment.

On Facebook, a family member expressed relief that his uncle's body has been found: "Not the ending we where hoping and praying for," wrote Steve Kropke, "If anything his family knows what had happened to him and they have closure."

The Lake County Coroner's Office had not officially confirmed that the body found in the car was Kropke's as of Sunday night.