BEVERLY SHORES | A mother's wait ended Wednesday, but it wasn't the ending she had hoped for.

The body of DaVante Jackson was recovered from Lake Michigan by Department of Natural Resources officers at 10:22 a.m., three days after the Chicago Heights 14-year-old apparently drowned while swimming in strong currents at Kemil Beach.

Chanell Davis, DaVante's mother, said via phone from her Chicago Heights home she was relieved they found her son and that the family has closure.

"He's OK now," she said. "He not lost no more ... He's at peace now. He's all right. He's OK now."

She was with her other children Wednesday morning.

"I'm OK," she said. "Everybody's OK."

On Monday, Davis had clung to the hope that her son would come home.

"My baby ain't going nowhere. Until I see him pulled out of the water, he's still there holding on," she said at the time.

Gene Davis, a DNR conservation officer, reported that calls began coming in about 10 a.m. Wednesday that an object could be seen about 100 yards offshore and a quarter-mile east of where the search began at Kemil Beach. Because of spotty cell phone reception, it took several calls before the location could be pinpointed.

Two DNR patrol boats that were searching in the area arrived at the location and retrieved the body. Gene Davis said DaVante was positively identified and was still in the black tank top and dark blue swim trunks he was wearing when he disappeared while swimming with a group Sunday afternoon.

The Porter County coroner's office was notified and took possession of the body. An autopsy will be performed to determine the official cause of death.

Gene Davis said the recovery was a relief for DNR officers.

"Until we can get our part done, it's hard for the family to do what they need to get past this," he said.

Since the time of DaVante's disappearance Sunday, hundreds of man hours from federal, state, county and local agencies went into the search, along with the use of helicopters, boats, scuba equipment, ATVs and other resources, Gene Davis said.

DaVante was one of 11 people who went to Indiana Dunes State Park on Sunday. When it was closed to swimming because of the strong rip currents, the group went east to Kemil Beach, which is unguarded.

Friends of DaVante said he and two others began having problems because of the strong currents. Friends pulled two of the swimmers to safety, but DaVante, who was farther out, disappeared below the 2- to 3-foot waves before he could be reached.

DaVante recently had finished eighth grade at Washington School and was to enter Bloom High School in Chicago Heights in the fall.