Police have confirmed a body they found in the water near Ontario Place Saturday evening is that of missing York University student Shane Fair.
An off-duty police officer found the body Saturday afternoon, only steps away from where Fair was last seen on May 16.
Fair, who was 19, disappeared two weeks ago after attending a formal dinner and dance at Atlantis Pavilion at Ontario Place to celebrate the end of the school year.
He failed to get on the last bus that would have taken him back to campus.
Since his disappearance, the search for him was the subject of much media attention. His family and friends held a number of unsuccessful search parties to find him and plastered the waterfront and hydro poles downtown with posters, hoping for his return.
They had also started a Facebook group with photos and information on the search.
Police expanded the search for Fair Wednesday with divers and officers on the ground searching the buildings at Ontario Place.
Fair's distraught parents had offered a $12,000 reward for anyone with information that would have brought him home. They had organized another search party which was to be held Sunday but was called off once Fair's body was identified.
Just last night, his friends had hoped that a new security video released by the Westin Harbour Castle showed Fair walking along Queen's Quay W. the night he disappeared. They believed he may have tried walking to his mother's house in The Beach.
Fair was a Canadian Forces reservist and was set to join the army full-time the week after he disappeared.
An autopsy will be scheduled to determine the cause of his death.
Police say that there is always a risk of hypothermia in Lake Ontario, even when the weather gets warmer.
"The thing you want to remember with Lake Ontario along with all the other great lakes is they're considered cold water lakes year round," says Toronto Police Const. Gary Gibson.
"What that means is hypothermia is an issue even in July and August."
This is the second body of a missing teenage boy to be found in the lake this week.
On Thursday, police pulled the body of 16-year-old Mason MacPhail from the water.
The Lindsay boy had been missing for two days since attending a concert by band Disturbed at the Sound Academy.
He had been thrown out by bouncers over an altercation in the club, which led to him becoming separated from his friends. He didn't show up when he was supposed to meet them later that night.
MacPhail did not return home that night, prompting his family to come to Toronto to aid in the search by up to 50 foot and marine unit officers.
The teen had Asperger's syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. People with Asperger's can sometimes become disoriented, and experience coordination problems.
