(NewsNation Now) — The body of 24-year-old Tommy Howe has been recovered in an Illinois river, nearly a month after he disappeared.

Howe’s body was located Tuesday in the Des Plaines River, near Libertyville, a suburb of Chicago.

Howe disappeared after he crashed on a highway in the northern suburbs of Chicago Jan. 22. Police say he hit a guardrail, then veered back into traffic and hit another car. The two vehicles stopped in the median. Howe then got out of the car and headed toward a nearby forest preserve.

Tom and MaryMargaret Howe, Tommy Howe’s parents, were expecting the 24-year-old for lunch that day. When he was late, they checked his phone’s location. It led them to a tow yard where they found their son’s smashed car.

“It’s a nightmare,” his father Tom Howe told NewsNation earlier this month. “Every morning we wake up and we’re getting a couple hours of sleep a night. We wake up in the morning and for about 10 seconds you think, ‘Oh I’m glad that nightmare is over,’ and then it hits us.”

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Lake County Coroner’s Office will conduct the investigation surrounding Howe’s death. 

“We have been with the Howe family throughout their search for Tommy,” said Antioch Police Chief Geoffrey Guttschow. “This is a devastating time for them. The family will continue to be in our prayers.”

NewsNation affiliate WGN contributed to this report.