If you re-read the article that mentions the wallet and the phone it is his family member that states where his wallet and phone were found, not Law Enforcement. The same article states that her body was removed from the water on May 2 which is what other LE reports linked here have said. In my opinion, I think there may have been a misunderstanding in what the family member(s) said to the media about the phone and wallet location. Link to article here (and I got the right link this time) UIC grad student Daniel Sotelo remains missing after girlfriend was found dead; his father holds onto faith His family said the same thing in another article and also said she and Daniel had only been dating a few months and they had never met her. UIC graduate student Daniel Sotelo is still missing after his girlfriend was found dead; his father keeps the faith
Lake Michigan is big like an ocean/sea and there are dangerous currents and certainly cases of people drowning in it, but not sure how often the bodies are not found. It is not uncommon to hear about a body being found on shore.
Lane Beach is just north of the location where her body was found, and it appears there are not any particularly strong currents in that area (NOAA shows the area as having a 1cm/second current in the northern direction). Granted, the strength of the currents can change drastically in Lake Michigan with strong winds/inclement weather, but is seems as though her body would have been carried further north instead of south had she entered the water at Lane Beach.
Bodies are not found more than you think due to the depth, the currents, and underwater debris. There was a plane crash into the lake 3 years ago - the pilot's body still has not been found though the airplane itself was located in the water quite a while later, as was the passenger's body. file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Report_CEN19FA165_99426_5_22_2022%202_27_49%20PM.pdf NOTE: It looks like the link did not work - the NTSB accident report is at www.ntsb.gov and the date the plane went down was May 12, 2019.
For reference, Wilmette is approximately 6 to 7 miles north of where Natally's body and DS's phone / wallet were discovered. I'm not familiar with NOAA data to see if this is probable based on water currents, etc.
Here is a NOAA link that shows the water movement on the lake from late March. There might be some change but that's a typical flow pattern this time of year. As you can see (it's interactive) it was a pretty strong flow pattern from south to north. Great Lakes Currents Map
