Man’s Body Believed to Be Canoeist’s
A man’s partly clothed body was found floating Friday afternoon halfway between the Oxnard shoreline and Anacapa Island, and coroner’s officials believe it is that of missing canoeist Scott Sullenger.
Sullenger, 35, was one of six men on an outrigger canoe that capsized Jan. 3 about 100 yards from Channel Islands Harbor.
Four men survived, but paddler John Deblin, 50, died the same day of hypothermia and Sullenger, an Oxnard resident, was presumed dead after he attempted to swim to shore and was never found.
“We spoke to the Sullenger family and I explained to them that we are pretty confident that it was Scott,” senior deputy coroner Craig Stevens said Friday night.
Stevens said the Sullenger family confirmed that certain clothing items and personal belongings found on the body belonged to Sullenger. Official confirmation will be made with dental records today, Stevens said.
A crew from the fishing vessel “The Capture” spotted the body some seven miles offshore about 3:15 p.m. Friday, sheriff’s Capt. Keith Parks said. The body was floating face down and tangled in a kelp bed.
The U.S. Coast Guard in Oxnard dispatched a 41-foot utility boat to retrieve the body, Parks said.
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