by Police said the body found in Lake Michigan this week in Evanston has been identified as transgender activist Elise Malary, who had been reported missing from her Evanston home a week earlier.
Malary’s body was found floating in the water by the rocks in Garden Park, in the 500 block of Sheridan Square, around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, according to police.
The cause and manner of her death has yet to be determined, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. Police said detectives are continuing to investigate the circumstances of her death.
On March 9, Malary resigned via email from her job as an administrative clerk with the Civil Rights Bureau of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.
Family and friends said they had not heard from her since then. A missing person report was filed with Evanston police on March 11.
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Police found her cell phone and laptop left behind in her unlocked apartment on Hinman Avenue, and her car was found parked in a lot a few blocks from her house. Malary lived less than half a mile west of where her body was found.
Malary, a board member of the Andersonville LGBTQIA advocacy group Chicago Therapy Collective, had been due to receive a 2022 Trans Visibility Award on March 31.
Anyone with information that could aid the death investigation was asked to contact the Evanston Police Department’s detective bureau.
