Police: Missing North Barrington woman killed herself
BY DAN ROZEK AND STEPHANIE KOHL Staff Reporters February 16, 2012 11:00AM
Marvin Carlsen, the husband of 61-year-old North Barrington resident Maria A. Carlsen, is escorted back to a vehicle after visiting the area where the body of his wife was found by police officials Thursday afternoon in unincorporated Lake County.| Michel
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Updated: March 18, 2012 8:13AM
Authorities said a North Barrington woman who went missing this week apparently killed herself.
“We would assume it’s a suicide,” Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran said.
The body of Maria A. Carlsen, 61, was found Thursday afternoon in a culvert along U.S. 12 not far from where her car was found Tuesday morning.
Curran said a water bottle and two kinds of prescription drugs — an anti-psychotic and an anti-anxiety medication — were found near her body.
No signs of violence were found, Curran said.
The body was found near an 14-acre abandoned mink farm, witnesses said. Police were led there by a tip from a woman who saw news coverage of Carlsen’s disappearance and remembered seeing a woman who looked like her walking in the area Monday afternoon, Curran said.
Authorities had resumed the search Thursday morning for Carlsen, who was reported missing Tuesday.
Carlsen’s relatives initially told police they feared she might harm herself.
“The family was worried that she may harm herself, although they were hoping for the best and that she maybe just went off somewhere and was thinking,” said George Manis, deputy chief of investigations for the sheriff’s department.
The Cook County sheriff’s department had sent a team of bloodhounds to help investigators in the area where Carlsen’s car was found. Searchers were working with a police helicopter to search the area near the Lakewood Forest Preserve near Wauconda.
On Tuesday, Lake County sheriff’s officers responded to Carlsen’s home in the upscale Wynstone subdivision in North Barrington to check on her after her family said they had not heard from her since 2 p.m. Monday.
Carlsen was scheduled to take a limo to O’Hare Airport Tuesday morning to fly to Boca Raton, Fla., to be with her husband. When the limo arrived at the home, Carlsen’s bags were packed but she and her car, a 2010 black 5 Series BMW, were missing from the residence, police said.
Earlier Thursday, Lake County sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Christopher Thompson said there was no indication of any kind of struggle at Carlsen’s house nor any indication of a struggle near her car.
Carlsen is described as 5-4, 115 pounds, with brown eyes and brown hair with a few red highlights. It is unknown what she was wearing when she went missing.
Her car was found Tuesday morning in the parking lot of J&D’s Bar and Grill, 26400 N. Rand Road, Wauconda about three miles from Carlsen’s home. Thompson on Thursday said authorities don’t think she was ever in the business, and police have searched around it, but have been unable to locate Carlsen.
Jose Banuelos, owner of the restaurant, said he didn’t see the car in the lot when he left work about 11:30 p.m. Monday.
But he immediately noticed it when he returned to the restaurant about 9 a.m. Tuesday — it was one of only two cars parked there and the other belonged to his daughter, Banuelos said.
“It was a nice car,” he said. “I wondered why anyone would leave a nice like that in the parking lot.”
Police arrived about 11 a.m. Tuesday and towed the car, he said.
When police showed him Carlsen’s photo, he didn’t recognize her as a customer, Banuelos said.
“I’ve never seen her in before,” he said, adding he’s puzzled by her disappearance and why her BMW ended up in his lot.
“It’s very strange,” Banuelos said. “I hope she’s OK. Maybe she’s with a friend or something.”
The restaurant on Route 12 is about three miles from Carlsen’s home.
Carlsen’s subdivision is a luxury, gated 400-home North Barrington neighborhood that surrounds a Jack Nicklaus-designed 18-hole golf course. The subdivision has its own private, unarmed security force that monitors all entrances into the sprawling neighborhood.
Residents, however, aren’t monitored as they leave the community so investigators have no records or security video of Carlsen’s car leaving, authorities said.
Contributing: Frank Abderholden
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