Boat capsize victim ID'd as Ashley Haws; Coast Guard search for 2 missing ends

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Coast Guard ended a search for two people missing after a boat capsized in Lake Michigan. Two others were rescued, one of whom died.

Ashley Haws, 26, and an unidentified man, 29, were pulled from the water Sunday morning hours after their boat sank. Haws was pronounced dead at the hospital. The unidentified man is hospitalized in stable condition with hypothermia. The identities of the two missing boaters have not been released.

Officials believe the boat was returning to Burnham Harbor from New Buffalo, Michigan, when it caught fire and sank about seven miles off 31st Street. The radio may have also malfunctioned.

"If they had some kind of power failure, they may not have been able to make a distress call," Officer Mark Stevens of the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The unidentified man was pulled to safety around 6 a.m. Sunday by Joel Reiser, the captain of a charter fishing boat, hours after his boat sank.

"We spotted something orange, thought it was a kayak," Reiser said. "We slowed up the boat and looked around and actually saw someone's head in between. It was actually four personal floatation devices. We spun around. He yelled for help. We threw a life ring to him and brought him into the boat."

Two hours later, Haws was located and taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The Coast Guard and Chicago Fire Department and Chicago Police Marine units searched for the missing boaters throughout the day Sunday. There has been no sign of the boat, officials said, although life jackets and other debris have been found in the lake.

Haws is survived by her parents and a brother. She grew up in Green Bay, Wis., and lived in Chicago's Lincoln Park. She was a family law attorney at Davi Law Group.

"She had the ability to connect with people. Everybody who came in contact with Ashley immediately fell in love with her, her personality, her smile," Dion Davi said.

"When the news came, there was a feeling of complete disbelief, numbness that is still lingering, very hard to believe."

One of her favorite sayings was "live to dream," according to her mother.