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Indiana Department of Natural Resources
'My Goal is to Find My Boy:' Family Continues Search for Missing Lake Michigan Boater
Published May 8, 2021 • Updated on May 8, 2021 at 7:03 pm
A father's search for his missing son continued Saturday, as authorities continued to look for a man whose boat capsized near the East Chicago marina earlier this month.
Kelvin Soto Crespo, 20, was one of four occupants on a boat that capsized in Lake Michigan on May 1 near the East Chicago Marina in Indiana. When officers arrived on the scene, they located three of the occupants, who were able to put on life jackets.
Soto Crespo could not be found, and the search has been on ever since, with officers from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources using sonar and surface searches to look for the man on Saturday.
Benjamin Soto, Kelvin's father, joined the search party on Saturday.
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"My goal is to find my boy, and to ask for the help of the people to help me find my boy," he said. "It's been hard. This is my baby child."
Kelvin had just moved to the Chicago area for a job when he went missing last weekend.
"This is the hardest part of the work that we have to do, is meeting with family and friends of drowning victims," Dave Benjamin, co-founder of the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, said.
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Benjamin is offering his group's assistance to the Soto family, as they continue the search and hope to spread awareness about the dangers that can come with enjoying time on the Great Lakes.
"This is a plea to help search for Kelvin and to bring him home," he said.
Evelyn Hernandez, whose boyfriend drowned in Lake Michigan more than a decade ago, also helped with the search, hoping to help more families avoid the pain that she experienced.
"When you're at a stage when your loved one is missing, and you don't know when nature will allow you to find them, it is very painful and agonizing," she said.
Cold temperatures and high winds are hindering the search, but the Soto family vows not to give up until they find their son.
"I'm missing my boy. I just want the people to help find him so I can take him home," Benjamin said.
Indiana Department of Natural ResourcesLake Michigan
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