Mystery as father-of-five pastor is found dead in submerged car as colleagues insist he was not suicidal

A pastor and father of five has been found dead in his submerged car a week after he went missing in a mysterious case that has left his congregation stunned. 

Warren Beard, 53, assistant pastor at New Israelite Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, was found in the Des Plaines River outside the city on Tuesday.

The married pastor had last been in Joliet on July 2 where he was visiting friends. His body was finally found on Tuesday after cops obtained surveillance footage from the night he vanished showing his car ramming into a gate and plunging into the river.

Local community members have been left reeling by the news and are adamant that Beard was not suicidal. Pastor Chenier Alston, who worked with the pastor for 18 years, claims foul play must have been involved.

The police investigation remains ongoing and they have not released the results of Beard's autopsy which was carried out on Wednesday.

Warren Beard, 53, was the assistant pastor at New Israelite Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago . He was last seen in Joliet, Illinois on July 2, where he was visiting friends according to the Chicago Police Department.

On July 9th, the Army Corps of Engineers informed Rockdale authorities about surveillance footage captured on July 2nd. The video showed Beard's car driving through a closed gate and then under a raised drawbridge before it plunges into the river, at around 10:47 p.m. that night.

Cops explained how the pastor's car plowed through the shut gate and then flew underneath a bridge before entering the water.

Rockdale Police Department Chief Robert Bake said: 'The vehicle's size allowed it to fit under the gap in the bridge before entering the river.'

His body was found in the driver's seat of his own vehicle just after 2:45 p.m. in the Des Plaines River near Chicago Tuesday night, reports WMAQ. Sonar technology was later used to locate the submerged vehicle.

'What I want answered is, "Who did this,"' Alston said at the press conference. 'I don't believe this. I may be jumping the gun, but ... Warren was not; he was not suicidal. 

'The fact that his car launched off that bridge, [there] were barricades there that had to be driven around. And we know how passionate he was about his job, his wife, his children, so we just want answers. And whatever those answers are, we are going to get justice for him,' he said. 

'He was the greatest person, one of the great men I ever met in my life, and this is painful.'

Alston called Beard Tuesday night around 8:30 p.m. and reported that he was in good spirits as always when they spoke.

'He was jovial, he was happy, he was joking as usual. And the phone call ended with, as we always end it, 'I love you,'' Alston said.

While the way in which Beard died suggests suicide, New Israelite Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Chenier Alston, who worked with Beard for 18 years at the church, insists foul play was involved

His body was found in the driver's seat of his own vehicle just after 2:45 p.m. in the Des Plaines River near Chicago Tuesday night, reports WMAQ . Sonar technology was later used to locate the submerged vehicle

Beard has served at his church for the last six years, and worked as a director at Preservation of Affordable Housing Communities.

Alston told reporters that he wants Beard's death to be investigated further as he said he was with someone the night he died.

'I would hope that the police would passionately pursue every single lead. He was with a person, he was last seen with a particular person, and we pray that police would definitely investigate him and really just give us some answers,' he said.