Coast Guard Suspends Search for Man, 46, Who Disappeared While Swimming Off Florida Beach

Jonathan Michael Christy.Photo:Indian River County Sheriff’s Office

Indian River County Sheriff’s Office

The Coast Guard has suspended its search for a man whowent missingwhile swimming off the coast of Florida four days ago.

Jonathan Michael Christy, 46, was last seen around 2:30 p.m. local time on Saturday while swimming in the ocean near 950 Reed Road in Vero Beach, the Indian River County Sheriff’s Officesaid in a bulletin.

The searchwas suspendedTuesday evening after crews spent 45 hours searching nearly 400 square miles for Christy.

“Our deepest condolences are with his family at this difficult time,” said Petty Officer Ryan Estrada in a post on the Coast Guard’s page on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Christy’s wife would typically accompany him on these trips to swim, Flowers said. This time, however, her husband disappeared.

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“At one point, she looked up, and he wasn’t visible,” Flowers said, per WPBF.

The woman called police when she realized she couldn’t find her husband, Flowers added.

Before the search was suspended, IRCSO spokesperson Sergeant Kevin Jaworski said detectives were “looking at surveillance video in the area” while “actively investigating” the man’s disappearance, according toTreasure Coast Newspapers.

No foul play was suspected at the time.

At least three other men have disappeared off of Indian County’s coast in the last two years, according toVeroNews.com. Johnny Peters disappeared in early January, having jumped into the water after having a drink at Waldo’s Restaurant on Ocean Drive.

Two boaters were among those who went missing. Donald Waters vanished while kayaking in August 2021, and Dale Allan Hossfield went missing after going on a solo boat trip out of the Fort Pierce Inlet in May 2022.

source: people.com