Police in Illinois using drone search for missing Northwestern professor

Richard Requena, Pioneer Press on Sep 2, 2025

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CHICAGO — The Evanston Police Department is using its drone to search for a missing person along the lakefront on Tuesday morning, the Police Department posted on its X page.

Commander Ryan Glew said the department is using the drone in its search for Northwestern University professor Nina Kraus, who was reported missing Monday. The 72-year-old woman was last seen leaving her home in the 1500 block of Ashland to go for a walk at approximately 9 a.m. on Monday. She was wearing long pants and a windbreaker.

Glew said the department is using its drone to search the lakefront around Church Street because Kraus likes to visit that area. “We need to search and fly the drone because that’s a better tool to search along the lake, along the rocks, along the water and so on and so forth,” he said.

Kraus is described as being 5-foot-4, 140 pounds, having long silver hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact the Evanston Police Department at (847) 866-5000.

According to Northwestern, Kraus is a professor of neurobiology and otolaryngology. She has authored the book “Of Sound Mind: How our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World,” which was selected as NPR’s Book of the Day. She has also made numerous presentations, appeared on podcasts and contributed to academic articles.

Kraus has written extensively on music, concussions, aging, speech, bilingualism, autism, technology and HIV through her work. She received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and Ph.D. from Northwestern University.

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