A missing kayaker's body was found Thursday morning in the Fox River, two days after he fell out while fishing in St. Charles, Illinois.

According to the City of St. Charles, firefighters were called to search the area of Ferson Creek Park just before 10 p.m. on Tuesday after officials said two kayakers were fishing when one man fell out of his kayak and into the water, and never resurfaced.

The other kayaker made it to shore safely and called for help. Shortly before 6 a.m. Thursday, the missing kayaker's body was found in the river near the Great Western Trail Bridge, according to the St. Charles Fire Department.

The Kane County Coroner's office identified the kayaker who died as Taylor Russell, 25, of Hanover Park. The preliminary cause of his death was determined to be drowning, but toxicology tests are still pending.

A GoFundMe described Russell as a loving husband, a devoted stepfather, and a kind-hearted soul.

Officials were investigating whether the wake from a boat on the river might have caused the kayaker to fall out, or if the boat might have collided directly with the kayaker.

A witness said he saw a boat without visible lights fly down the river toward the kayakers on Tuesday night. Dustin Uncapher was out fishing with his nephew at the same time, on the shore.

Uncapher said the evenings are the best time to catch flathead catfish, and he and his nephew were trying a new spot they'd never tried before. They noticed the two kayakers, each in a separate kayak, were also fishing in the water near them.

"They ended up going up past us up the river. After that, they ended up coming back down the river probably about a half hour, 45 minutes later. About another 15, 20 minutes after that, me and my nephew saw a white boat come flying past us," Uncapher said. "I didn't see any lights that I could visibly see, other than just it looked like a sonar, kind of to the left of where the driver was."

Boaters out fishing at night should use a light for safety, Uncapher said.

Uncapher said about 10 minutes after the boat without lights sped past them, emergency crews followed. That was when he was told that a kayaker was missing.

Uncapher said he was there when the surviving kayaker made his way out of the water, and told a police officer the boat hit his friend.

"He said it hit him, but at that point, we weren't sure if it was the wake or if it was the actual boat that hit him," said Uncapher. "He seemed like he was in shock. He didn't know what was going on or how to react, almost."

The St. Charles Fire Department and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources said they made contact with the owner of that boat, and it was still under investigation late Wednesday whether a wake from the boat may have caused the kayaker to fall out, or if the boat collided directly with the kayaker.

"The boat was involved," said St. Charles Fire Chief Jeremy Mauthe. "We don't know exactly what happened."

Mauthe said crews briefly stopped the search after seven hours of deploying divers and boats with specialized sonar equipment. Nearly 30 area fire departments assisted in the search effort through the night until 5 a.m.

"We hand sonar underwater rovers, as well as multiple divers," Mauthe said, "so any conceivable spot that would have looked like a person could have been in, we searched those areas thoroughly."  

The search resumed again Wednesday morning at 8:30 a.m., and transitioned from a rescue to a recovery mission.

"It's crazy to think about, because I saw him a couple minutes prior, kayaking," said Uncapher. "Sometimes I do go wading in the river, but never in stretches where there's boats, typically. And this brings a light to my eyes and makes you realize, take the proper precautions. Make sure you're doing it the right way. And also, if you're a boater, have the proper lighting — especially if you're going too fast."

Mauthe emphasized that first responders were working against less-than-ideal weather conditions.

"We want to try to map it out as best we can before we put the divers in the water, because the divers are in dry suits," Mauthe said. "The humidity has thankfully cooled down a little bit, but it's a lot of labor, and that's why we had so many departments responding last night, just because of the amount of exertion that gets put on the individual members."

On Thursday, search crews said they've recovered a body in the same area after resuming their search at 8 a.m. and later confirmed it was the missing kayaker.

Ferson Creek Park serves as a boat launch area with kayaks and canoes, and is surrounded by the Fox River.