Bodies of Illinois men found in Wisconsin lake

EAST TROY, Wis. (WLS) -- Four Illinois men are believed to have drowned early Sunday in a lake in southeast Wisconsin, officials confirm.

New Trier High School in suburban Winnetka has confirmed that two of the men are recent graduates. The men were all ages 20 to 23.

Their names were not immediately released. Officials said alcohol may have played a factor. Foul play is not suspected.

Two bodies were pulled from a frigid Lake Beulah, about 90 miles north of Chicago, but the two other men were still missing. Recovery efforts are expected to begin again Monday morning.

Officials said the four friends left a house early Sunday morning and apparently took a canoe out on the lake but never returned

The men had gone to visit a friend whose parents have a house on Lake Beulah, about 35 miles southeast of Milwaukee. The four men left the house at about 3 a.m. Sunday and told friends they were going for a smoke but never returned. In the morning, their friends discovered that they were not in the house and found tracks to the boathouse. A 14-foot, 3-person canoe was missing.

"From across the bay they could see an overturned canoe," said Jason Roberts, spokesman for investigation of the incident by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Everyone had been drinking at the house and there was no evidence the young men took life jackets with them on the canoe, he said. Searchers eventually found two bodies in an area of the lake where the overturned canoe was found and there were signs of broken ice.

Earlier, East Troy Police Chief Jim Surges had told WITI-TV that all four bodies had been recovered but Roberts said that was not the case.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.