Wood Dale news: Crews resume search for Hipolito Hernandez who went missing in reservoir
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WOOD DALE, Ill. (WLS) — Search crews resumed their recover efforts Wednesday looking for that man who went missing in a reservoir in Wood Dale.

The DuPage County Forest Preserve Police said they got a 911 call just before 6:30 p.m. Tuesday about a man who allegedly went swimming in the Wood Dale-Itasca reservoir and never resurfaced.

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The swimmer’s family arrived on the scene Wednesday morning and are devastated by his disappearance.

“It’s so devastating,” Celia Hernandez, sister of the missing swimmer, said. “We couldn’t take care of her son.”

Hernandez is at a loss for words as crews search the Wood Dale-Itasca Reservoir, she says, for her 52-year-old brother, Hipolito Hernandez, known to family as “Polo.”

Hernandez said the father of five lived in nearby Bensenville.

“He loved to go in ponds,” Celia Hernandez said. “Drink, get in there, you know…We just lost my mother a month and a half ago. He was the main caregiver.”

Hernandez said her brother was at the murky reservoir with his girlfriend at the time he went underwater and never resurfaced early Tuesday evening.

“He was getting in the water and she says that all of a sudden she saw him going deeper and deeper inside and going down,” Celia Hernandez said. “That’s when she called 911.”

Emergency crews from surrounding suburbs rushed to the scene, searching for Hernandez before the operation was officially turned into a recovery mission.

Hours later, crews are using drones, boats and a cadaver dog to find the man.

“I thought he was fishing,” Laura Susmarski, who saw the swimmer go in the water. “We have a lot of fishers that fish in there.”

Neighbor Susmarski says she saw Hernandez get in the water with a reassurance she says from the man’s girlfriend.

“His girlfriend said he’ll be alright,” Susmarski said. “And then I heard him yelling for her to come swimming and she didn’t want to come swimming. And then I didn’t hear him yelling for her anymore. That’s when I heard the sirens”

Family is anxiously waiting nearby for any news about a possible discovery as the search for Hernandez continues.

Swimming is not allowed in the reservoir.

According to the police chief the reservoir is intended for storm and retention from Salt Creek.

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