Cause of Death Revealed for Linda Brown, Missing Chicago Special Education Teacher Found in Lake Michigan

The cause of death has been determined for Linda Brown, the 53-year-old Chicago special education teacher who was reported missing earlier this month and later found dead in Lake Michigan.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Brown’s death a suicide by drowning following an autopsy conducted Tuesday, according to FOX 32. No additional details were released.

Brown’s body was recovered from Lake Michigan near Chicago’s South Side around noon Monday, days after she vanished and was reported missing on January 3, the Chicago Police Department said.

Her husband, Antwon Brown, told authorities the couple spent a quiet evening at home watching movies before she went to bed early. When he woke the next morning, she was gone.

“I woke up at 8:45 a.m., and she was gone,” Antwon said, adding that he immediately broke down and later reported her missing after hours passed with no contact.

Brown was a special education teacher at Robert Healy Elementary School and had last been seen driving a blue 2021 Honda Civic in the 4500 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in the Bronzeville neighborhood, about two miles southwest of Guaranteed Rate Field. She was reportedly headed to her weekly acupuncture appointment but never arrived.

On January 7, investigators located her abandoned vehicle near East 35th Street and South Lake Park Avenue — roughly two miles from where she was last seen. Surveillance footage later showed Brown walking alone around 3 a.m. on a pedestrian bridge leading toward the lakefront, near where her body was ultimately recovered, her family told ABC 7.

While the exact circumstances surrounding her death remain unclear, Antwon said his wife had been struggling with mental health issues and had taken a leave of absence from work to seek help. She was scheduled to return to her job on January 5.

“She had some mental health issues going on,” he told CBS Chicago. “As school was getting closer, it was kind of getting worse — the anxiety, the panic attacks.”

Brown’s death has deeply affected her family, colleagues, and the Chicago Public Schools community, where she was remembered as a dedicated educator who worked closely with students requiring additional support.