Body found on beach identified as missing woman, 22
She was standout basketball player from Riverdale
A Riverdale woman who has been missing since late October was found Saturday in Chicago, according to Chicago police and her family.
Davane Gross, 22, was located shortly after 7 a.m. Saturday at Oakwood Beach, 4100 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago police said. Gross, whose identification card was found on her, was pronounced dead at 7:22 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Chicago police contacted the mother of Gross on Saturday morning and said they believed the woman’s body was found on the shore of a beach, according to her aunt, Monique Jones. Gross had been missing from her home in Riverdale.
Sunday, relatives will visit the medical examiner’s office to identify her, Jones said. An autopsy will also be performed that will determine the cause and manner of her death.
An athlete, Gross was about 4-foot-11 and “very powerful” on the basketball team at St. Joseph High School in suburban Westchester, where she graduated from and was also named player of the year.
“She was a really good basketball player,” Jones said.
Gross had also recently completed her associate’s degree from Rainy River Community College in International Falls, Minnesota, where she also played basketball, said her aunt, who added her position was usually guard.
Gross had been going through some tough times of late, battling depression, but though it’s been an excruciatingly difficult time, the family now feels some sense of peace.
“Yes, we just wanted closure,” Jones said.