Body of Northwestern neuroscience PhD student is pulled from Lake Michigan after going missing

The body of a Northwestern PhD student was pulled out of Lake Michigan three days after he went missing on a walk home from a party.

Peter Salvino, a neuroscience student, was found dead in Diversey Harbor on Tuesday night after he was last seen leaving a party in the Lincoln Park neighborhood in Chicago around 12am on Sunday.

Salvino, 25, spoke to a friend around 12.15am while on his way home as the temperature was just 19 degrees, but failed to pick up his phone 15 minutes later to confirm he got home safe.

The phone's location at that time, around 12.30 am on Sunday, pinged near where his body was later found by rescue workers after an extensive search in the harbor.

The PhD student's cause of death hasn't been confirmed and no suspects have been named.

Peter Salvino's body was found in Diversey Harbor in Chicago on Tuesday night after he was last seen walking home from a party around 12am on Sunday

 Salvino's body was later found by rescue workers after an extensive search in the harbor

When Salvino last spoke to a friend over FaceTime he was about half a mile away from his apartment, located at the 800 block of West Lill Avenue, according to Chicago police. 

Salvino's family reported him missing after several people called him at 9.45am on Sunday but he failed to answer. 

He was also supposed to meet his father for a Bears game but didn't show up. 

Salvino's friends and family set up a search group to find him on Sunday and Monday leading into the night.

'Check the alleys, the dumpsters - anything really, please,' the search party was instructed by Nick Saleh, Salvino's closest friend.

'This is my best friend - my brother,' Saleh told CBS News.

Several missing person flyers were also distributed around DePaul University Lincoln Park Campus and nearby streets where Salvino disappeared.

Surveillance footage from The Wieners Circle, where Salvino was a regular, was posted by the restaurant with a grab of the PhD student ordering food before heading to the Lincoln Park party.

Salvino was pictured wearing a wine-colored beanie, a black and gray jacket and maroon pants.

'People don't vanish out of thin air,' Scotty Gruszka, Salvino's brother-in-law told CBS News before his body was discovered. 'He was a great guy. There's no reason to believe that he would have just gone off the grid, so, you know, we can't rule out anything, obviously.'

He was about half a mile away from his apartment when he ended up near Diversey Harbor about 15 minutes later

Salvino, 25, last talked to his friend over FaceTime around 12.15am on the day he went missing and was half a mile away from his home

Surveillance footage from The Wieners Circle, where Salvino was a regular, was posted by the restaurant with a grab of the PhD student ordering food before heading to the Lincoln Park party

His friend attempted to call him at 12.30am on Friday to check if he got home but he failed to answer and his phone location showed him at Diversey Harbor

 Salvino's phone location was seen around 12.30 on Sunday near the harbor (above)

 Salvino's heartbroken family is 'relieved and shattered' by the discovery and asked the public for privacy.

'Throughout the last three days, we have been overwhelmed by the support and assistance we've received from friends, family, and local residents and businesses in our search for Peter,' Martin Salvino, Peter's father, wrote in a statement on Wednesday.

'We are grateful beyond measure for their diligence, without which Peter may not have been found. At this time, our family appreciates the public affording us privacy as we process our grief over this devastating loss.'