A Wisconsin father has been found dead in his car in a creek after he left dinner at a restaurant in Crystal Lake Wednesday evening and went missing.
Laura Leatherberry said her husband, Benjamin Stephen Oberto, was last seen at 8:55 p.m. Wednesday.
Oberto, 45, was last seen at 1776 Restaurant in Crystal Lake.
He was assumed to be headed home to New Berlin, Wisconsin, from the restaurant.
Leatherberry said that her husband’s last phone call was at 9:26 p.m. that evening and at 10:11 p.m. his phone went directly to voicemail.
Oberto drives a silver 2019 Subaru Impreza, which does not have the manufacturer’s STARLINK service.
A missing person report has been filed. Police across Wisconsin and Illinois were involved in the search for Oberto, who is the father of a 3-year-old and a 21-year-old.
Police requested location data from the man’s cellular provider and his phone was pinged in the area of Chicago, Rosemont and O’Hare Airport around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday.
The phone went dead after that, Leatherberry said.
Leatherberry said Friday that it was confirmed that her husband has not taken a flight out of O’Hare Airport and it is likely he is in the greater Chicago area.
She also said her husband’s I-PASS toll record registered him at the Elgin plaza but there was no exit toll.
The Illinois State Police Division of Criminal Investigation Zone 1 announced Saturday morning that the search for Oberto had ended.
The Rosemont Police Department located a Subaru Impreza with Wisconsin registration on Friday partially submerged in a creek at the bottom of an embankment on the curve from the Interstate 90 eastbound ramp to Interstate 294 northbound.
Divers located a body inside the vehicle, later identified as Oberto.
