Body of missing sailor is found
A body found floating in Avalon Bay off Catalina Island on Tuesday has been identified as the missing man whose sailboat sank last week off a Newport Beach jetty, a wire service reported.
He is William Eugene Ott, 61, of Phoenix.
The body, found about 12:45 p.m., was flown to Los Angeles, where the coroner positively identified it using fingerprints, Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino told Associated Press.
“It’s feasible a body could wash up there and a boat wash up in Newport Beach because of the currents,” he said.
Ott’s wife told sheriff’s investigators that she last heard from her husband on April 17, when he left Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro heading toward the Channel Islands.
The next day witnesses said they saw his 30-foot sailboat hit a jetty and sink near the Wedge in Newport Beach.
Authorities say they don’t know how the boat ended up in Newport Beach.
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