NOTE: To view the video, please click the link to the right of this story in the “Related Information” box.

A woman whose car was pulled from Lake Michigan over the weekend was still missing on Thursday while friends appeared to be giving in to the notion she may not be found.

Dispelling rumors that a body had been found, the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department says it is still searching for Staci Paul, 37, of Kenosha, who’s been missing since Sunday. But members of the department said no additional dives to search for a body are scheduled in Lake Michigan.

Lt. Paul Falduto, the Sheriff’s Department Dive Team coordinator said the probability of divers finding a body where Paul’s car went into the lake is low.

“With all the movement of the water and no real expectations that the body is in the same area it may have gone in, coupled with the temperatures ... the conditions just aren’t conducive to dives,” Falduto said.

Local law enforcement and rescue agencies responded to the north pier Sunday morning and found a 1997 Pontiac, registered to Paul, submerged in about 5 feet of water, about 50 feet north of the pier. A towing company pulled the vehicle, which had been filled with ice, from the water Sunday night, but no body was found.

As large waves crashed and a frigid wind whipped over it, a few people ventured onto the north pier Thursday morning to take a look at the place where Paul’s car dove into the water. A small memorial with a candle and roses and pines has been left there.

“She’ll pop up,” said one stoic man who said he didn’t know Paul but wanted to visit the site.

One Kenosha woman who visited the site and would only identify herself as a former co-worker of Paul’s said she was in disbelief about the disappearance.

“She was always happy and so proud of her son,” the woman said. “It seemed like even if she had nothing, she still had her son. It’s all she strived for and talked about.”

Other friends of Paul who spoke to the Kenosha News on Thursday described her as a bright and personable woman who adored her 10-year-old son, Josh. Friends said she was a hard worker, who was known for bartending and waiting tables at several locales throughout the city.

Paul became known for her infectious smile and warm personality while working at places like The Frolic Bar & Grill on Washington Road and The Brat Stop. Paul also spent several years working occasionally at The Coffee Pot, 4914 Seventh Ave., going back to the days when it was known as Bubba’s Breakfast Club.

“Staci was lively and bubbly and funny; she had a heart of gold,” said Julie Zorn, co-owner of The Coffee Pot. “When she worked for us, she was efficient. She was very personable. She was a ray of sunshine.”

On Thursday, Sheriff’s Sgt. Gil Benn confirmed investigators found “written evidence” that Paul was despondent before she went missing Sunday morning.

Friends also said they knew things hadn’t been easy for Paul. A single mother, she worked hard to find jobs and as the economy worsened, friends speculated, Paul might have run into some financial trouble. Court records also show Paul had been evicted from her home in October.

“I know she was going through rough times like the rest of us with finding jobs,” said the former co-worker who visited the pier.

Said Zorn: “We all have our down times ... I’m sad that Staci felt so alone.”

Friends speculated about whether Paul thought about turning around her car before driving it onto the pier Sunday morning. The Sheriff’s Department has said one of the windows in Paul’s car was broken, but investigators were unsure if that damage occurred before or after the crash.

The Sheriff’s Department also said they haven’t been able to confirm whether Paul was even driving the car.

In the meantime, a surveillance video released by Kenosha Water Utility on Thursday seemed to fuel speculation that whoever was driving the car might have had second thoughts as it sped down the north pier. (To view the video, please click the link to the right of this story in the “Related Information” box.)

The dark and grainy video captured from the Water Utility production plant shows the car speeding onto the pier about 3:50 a.m. Sunday and heading toward the lighthouse. On its way, the car appears to break at least three times, including once more just before it goes off the pier.

Paul is a 1990 graduate of Bradford High School.