LINCOLN - Logan County officials said Tuesday they have not confirmed the identity of a body pulled Monday afternoon from Salt Creek near the area where an 18-year-old Lincoln man was last seen two weeks ago.

Coroner Robert Thomas said it may take a day or two for DNA evidence to confirm if the body is that of Billy Ray Eskew.

An autopsy was conducted Tuesday afternoon, but results have not yet been made public. "It may take several days or weeks to determine what happened," he said.

Logan County Sheriff Steve Nichols confirmed a man's body had been pulled from the river Monday, but said it was not immediately clear how he died.

"Our first priority is to officially identify the body and then we will go from there," Nichols said.

Beyond saying the body had been tentatively identified, the sheriff's office released no other information Tuesday.

The search for Eskew was suspended pending the identification of the body.

Two boaters called the Logan County Sheriff's Department at 3:08 p.m. Monday saying they believed they had spotted a body in the creek in a rural area near the 1400 Street and 700 Avenue.

Search crews, which had been given the Memorial Day weekend off, were summoned to the area immediately. The body was pulled from the river about two miles upstream where Interstate 55 crosses Salt Creek.

Eskew was last seen at 7 a.m. May 13 at a campsite near the Sportsmen's Park facility, one mile south of Lincoln. He had been camping with friends and was last seen at the campsite.

Authorities were called 12 hours later, and a massive search was initiated using ground, horse, boat and helicopter units. The search had continued daily until it the holiday weekend break.

The body was found about two miles upstream from the campsite.

Assisting in the recovery of the body where the Lincoln city and rural fire departments, sheriff's police, Illinois State Police, the coroner's office and the Logan County Dive Team.

Kevin Barlow can be reached at kbarlow@pantagraph.com.