The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for a Sarasota family who went missing off Florida’s west coast last weekend.
Ace Kimberly, 45, had been living on a sailboat for a year with his three children - Rebecca, 17, Donald, 15, and Roger, 13. They left Sarasota Sunday morning for Fort Myers, where Kimberly’s brother was going to make some repairs.
Ace Kimberly called his brother Sunday afternoon to report that he was experiencing 6-foot seas and thunderstorms about 37 miles offshore.
The family was reported missing Tuesday. The Coast Guard recovered one body on Wednesday afternoon and another on Thursday morning.
Case said the body of 17-year-old Rebecca was found wearing a life jacket, while Ace’s body was not.
Captain Gregory Case, Sector St. Petersburg commander, said the Coast Guard is not able to determine what caused the boat to go missing.
“We postulate and we try and figure it out so that we have better search and rescue, but we don’t have any idea,” he told reporters Saturday.
“We know there was bad weather and we suppose certain things, but that’s why FWC will investigate and even then it’s difficult when you don’t find everything.”
Satellite images from Sunday show an intense line of storms in the area, and the National Weather Service’s Tampa office issued a warning to boaters that day about increasing northeast winds.
He said the decision to suspend the search was not an easy one.
“It’s with a heavy heart and sincere condolences to their family and friends that I do this,” he told reporters Saturday. “This is probably the most difficult decision I ever have to make in this position.”
Case said the search spanned an area in excess of 34,000 square nautical miles over more than 250 resource hours, in thanks to assistance from the U.S. Air Force, Customs and Border Patrol, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and local authorities.
“As a father I can’t begin to feel what they’re going through, but I know it’s excruciating and tough and they’re doing a great job,” Case said.
“[The family] wanted me to pass along their appreciation to the men and women out there doing their job searching, but also to the community and the public and the media to help spread the word.”
