John Pisano Jr.’s remains were found inside a 1998 Lincoln Town Car pulled from a Hodgkins retention pond.
HODGKINS, IL — Human remains found inside a car pulled from a suburban Chicago pond have been identified as John Pisano Jr., an Army veteran and father who disappeared in 2001 at age 39, Cook County officials said.
The identification closes a long gap in a missing person case that had left Pisano’s family without answers for nearly 25 years. The remains were found in September 2025 in a retention pond near Joliet Road and East Avenue in Hodgkins. Officials said the vehicle, a 1998 Lincoln Town Car, was tied to a missing person report filed more than two decades earlier.
The car was discovered by Chaos Divers, a volunteer scuba diving and sonar team that searches waterways in cold cases. Police said the divers were investigating a different missing person case when they located the vehicle in the pond. The pond sits near a Target store in Hodgkins, a village southwest of Chicago. After the vehicle was recovered, authorities confirmed that human remains were inside and began the process of identifying them.
Cook County officials later confirmed the remains belonged to Pisano, who had been reported missing from the Chicago area in 2001. Local reports identified him as an Oak Park man, an Army veteran and a father. Officials have not released a full account of how the car entered the pond, how long it had been submerged or whether investigators found signs of a crash or foul play. The cause of death has been listed as undetermined.
Pisano’s family described him in an obituary as a man who served in the Army when he was younger and remained deeply connected to his children. The family said he had faced lifelong struggles with mental illness. They remembered him as a music lover who enjoyed Ozzy Osbourne and KISS, played softball in River Grove and carried himself with a strong sense of style. “He was loved deeply and will be missed by many,” the family said.
The search that led to the discovery was not originally focused on Pisano. Chaos Divers said it had been looking for Hiep Luu, a 21-year-old man who disappeared from Berwyn in 2003 after leaving for work in Woodridge. Luu’s remains were later found in Lake Osborne in Naperville. The Hodgkins discovery instead brought investigators back to Pisano’s older missing person case and gave authorities a physical link to his disappearance.
Cases involving submerged vehicles can take years to resolve because ponds, lakes and retention basins may not be searched unless investigators have a specific lead or a sonar team checks the water. In Hodgkins, the recovered Lincoln connected the remains to a missing person report from more than 25 years ago. Police have not announced any arrests or criminal charges, and no public report has said another person was involved in Pisano’s death.
The identification gives Pisano’s relatives a formal answer after years of uncertainty, though key questions remain open. Authorities have not said whether more testing is planned or whether the medical examiner’s office could later update the cause and manner of death. Hodgkins police have said the case remains under investigation. The family has asked for privacy as it absorbs the confirmation of his death.
The case now stands as a resolved identification, but not a fully explained death. Officials have confirmed Pisano’s name, the vehicle and the location of the recovery, while the circumstances that placed him and the Lincoln in the pond remain under review.
Author note: Last updated Sunday, May 24, 2026.