Missing special education teacher Linda Brown has been confirmed dead. Her body was pulled from Lake Michigan on Monday morning, her family announced.
“Today, Linda’s body was found in the 31st Street Harbor along the Chicago lakefront. This is not the outcome we were hoping or praying for, but we are grateful that she has been found and can now be brought home to our family,” Brown’s family said in a statement to Fox 32 Chicago.
Brown’s body was found near South Lake Shore Drive on the city’s South Side.
She had been missing since Saturday, January 3, in her Bronzeville neighborhood. Police, family members, and volunteers spent days searching for her.
Brown, 53, was last seen walking across a pedestrian bridge leading to the lakefront on Saturday.
Her car was found parked at 35th Street and Lake Park Avenue early Thursday.
Brown was a special education teacher at Robert Healy Elementary School in Bridgeport. She was scheduled to return to work Monday following a leave of absence for mental health treatment, her husband, Antwon Brown said.
As the start of school approached, her anxiety and panic attacks worsened, he said.
Antwon and Linda Brown had been married 11 years. They lived quietly in a Bronzeville townhouse.
“She’s a wonderful person. Like I said, outgoing, smart, you know, funny,” he said.
“I am deeply saddened by the news of Linda Brown’s passing,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a post on X (Twitter) on Monday. “As a special education teacher at Healy Elementary she made an immeasurable impact on countless young lives and was a vital member of the Bridgeport community. I’m praying for her family, and for her students as they grieve and remember Linda and all the joy she brought.”
Social media users and bloggers apologized for assuming the worst about Antwon Brown.
The way I’m hardly seeing any updates regarding Linda Brown being found in Law Michigan deceased is wild – but, when y’all thought her Black husband did it, there were think pieces & social media psychics everywhere. Sending condolences to her family, friends & especially her… https://t.co/e9NywXUGqa pic.twitter.com/h35eJSc43o
— Jerome Trammel, MBA (@MrJeromeTrammel) January 13, 2026
