Body Believed To Be Missing Suburban Man Located

UPDATED: 10/4/2013 2:20 p.m.

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The body that investigators believe is a missing suburban man has been located, according to a release from the Lake County State's attorney.

"Last night, at approximately 10:30 p.m. [Thursday] the search team located a body in a densely wooded area," according to a statement released on Friday. "The identity of the body and the cause of death are still pending. We have reason to believe that these are the remains of Nicholas Steward based on a number of personal items that were discovered on or near the body."

Steward, 33, disappeared Sept. 20 after leaving work in Wood Dale. He headed home for Lake Villa but never made it.

The body was located less than a mile from where his car was found in a Vernon Hills apartment complex on in the 900 block of Westmoreland Drive on Thursday.

Late Thursday afternoon, an alert Vernon Hills police officer found the 2007 white Saturn belonging to the missing husband and father.

The Lake County Coroner said Friday he must conduct DNA tests to confirm whether a body found in a Vernon Hills field is Steward. But officials said it appears to be the body of Steward and that he killed himself.

The final determination of a suicide will come at when the police investigation ends.

DNA is needed to make the identification 100 percent certain.

The body was badly decomposed due to exposure to wildlife, making DNA tests necessary, Lake County Coroner Thomas Rudd said.

But the man suffered two cut wounds to his right wrist and a single cut wound to his left wrist, Rudd said

DNA results should be available on Monday, Rudd said.