Body of Surfer Who Went Missing in Pacifica is Found, Identified

By Bay City News Service:

The body of a surfer who was reported missing off of a Pacifica beach last month was recovered a mile off Salt Point State Park on the Sonoma Coast, a Sonoma County sheriff’s sergeant said.

The Sonoma County coroner’s office used dental records to identify the deceased man as 52-year-old Brook Warren Keyon, of Shingle Springs.

Keyon was last seen by the U.S. Coast Guard face down in the water about 100 yards away from Rockaway Beach shortly after 5 p.m. on Nov. 23.

Pacifica firefighters saw someone in a black wet suit offshore but lost sight of the person 10 minutes later.

Pacifica Police Capt. Daniel Steidle said police found a wallet, cell phone and keys in Keyon’s pickup in the small parking lot by the beach, and his family identified the surfboard that almost immediately washed ashore as his.

“We were 90 percent sure he was the missing surfer,” Steidle said.

The Coast Guard deployed a self-locating data marker buoy that provides information on ocean currents to indicate where the surfer might have been carried. The buoy floated in an 18-square mile area of the ocean before the search was suspended at 10 p.m.

On Dec. 5, a crewmember aboard a commercial fishing boat called the Coast Guard after seeing a lifeless person floating in the water off Salt Point State Park.

The Coast Guard recovered an adult in a wetsuit who clearly had been in the water for some time, Sgt. Cecile Focha said.

The coroner’s office responded to the Coast Guard station in Bodega Bay and took over the investigation, Focha said.

No one fitting the surfer’s description had been reported missing in Sonoma County, but the sheriff’s office became aware of the missing surfer in Pacifica, Focha said.

Keyon’s fingerprints were available but were inadequate to positively confirm his identity, and the sheriff’s office contacted a forensic odontologist to verify Keyon’s dental records, Focha said.

Keyon’s family has been informed of his death, Focha said.