BRONZEVILLE \u2014 Linda Brown, the missing special education teacher whose body was found Monday in Lake Michigan, died by suicide, the Cook County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office has confirmed.<\/p>\n
The official cause of death for Brown was listed as drowning. Her body was found Monday morning in the 3100 block of South DuSable Lake Shore Drive, nearly 2 1\/2 miles from her home near the 4500 block of South Dr. Martin Luther King Drive.<\/p>\n
Brown had been missing since Jan. 3. The Bronzeville woman was last seen in surveillance footage walking toward a pedestrian bridge after leaving her car near 35th Street and Lake Park Avenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis 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,\u201d Brown\u2019s family said in\u00a0a statement to the Tribune<\/a>.<\/p>\n Brown\u2019s husband previously told CBS2 she was seeking help for mental health challenges that had worsened as winter break neared its end. He said he last saw her Jan. 2, when they watched a movie before bed. Brown was gone by the time he awoke the following morning,\u00a0he told CBS2<\/a>.<\/p>\n J.P. Paulus, a fellow 46th Street & Vincennes Block Club and Community Garden member, told Block Club that Brown was a warm, generous person willing to pitch in whenever she was needed. Paulus recalled Brown and her husband helped put up Christmas arches around the neighborhood.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019d give candy to the neighborhood kids. She was definitely a person willing to help,\u201d Paulus said.<\/p>\n Healy Elementary Principal Erin Kamradt\u00a0sent an email to the school community notifying students, staff and parents of Brown\u2019s death, the Tribune reported.<\/p>\n Rene Lopez, a former middle-school student of Brown\u2019s when she taught at another CPS school,\u00a0told ABC7<\/a>\u00a0she \u201cmade us believe in a sense of hope. She just created a sense of community, a safe space within her classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n