Police Seek Clues to Body Found in Boat

Ventura police investigators were searching for answers Tuesday in a mysterious case in which a Calabasas man discovered a decomposing body hidden in the back of his boat.

Patrick Walsh of Calabasas found the unidentified body of a man Monday night when he tried to return his 28-foot powerboat to a storage yard at Ventura Harbor, Police Sgt. Gary Morris said.

Walsh’s boat had been parked in front of his home on a residential street while Walsh had been away for the Labor Day weekend, Morris said. Walsh, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, had just arrived home from his vacation and found the body as he was returning the boat to the storage yard.

“[Walsh] was shocked by the whole thing,” Morris said. “He had walked back behind the boat when he noticed the smell and saw the blood, and then when he pulled the cover back he finds this badly decomposed body . . . it was pretty gruesome.”

Ventura County coroner investigators say the white male had been dead for at least three days before being discovered on the boat’s rear deck.

The coroner had not determined the identity of the corpse, but described the deceased as a man in his late 30s or early 40s with reddish brown hair and beard. The 5-foot-9, 150-pound man was wearing either maroon or purple pants and a white or light pink T-shirt, said Jim Wingate of the coroner’s office.

Investigators were attempting to get fingerprints late Tuesday for possible identification, and if no match is found they planned to search dental records in Sacramento of missing people.

The cause of death has not been determined, he said, and the case has not yet been ruled a homicide.

“That requires some lab tests that could take several weeks,” Wingate said.