The Lake County coroner's office identified a man found by hikers Sunday in a wooded area near Mundelein as 76-year-old Dale F. Kropke, missing since March 4 from his Round Lake Park home.



Coroner Dr. Howard Cooper said the investigation into the exact circumstances of Kropke's death is ongoing.



"Preliminary autopsy results indicate he died from multiple traumatic injuries sustained in the crash. Toxicology results are pending," Cooper said in a statement. "Mr. Kropke's family has been notified, and our deepest condolences go out to them."



Round Lake Park police put out a missing person alert after Kropke left his home in the Saddlebrook Farms retirement community around 10:30 a.m. March 4 to go to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, and then never showed up, according to police Chief George Filenko.



The search of a pond Wednesday near Alleghany Road and Saddlebrook Drive east of the retirement community was conducted after an officer thought he saw something in the water, Filenko said.



According to Filenko, after a search that included Grayslake Fire Department divers, the object the officer spotted turned out to be a large plastic storage container.



Three hikers found the body of a man just after 11 a.m. Sunday outside Mundelein in a totaled car that was the same make and model as that of Kropke.



A preliminary investigation indicates that the driver was headed east on Winchester Road in a gold 2010 Toyota Prius east of Route 83, according to a statement from the Lake County sheriff's office.



The crash remains under investigation, according to the statement.