Search For Missing Boaters Suspended By US Coast Guard: Venice Police

Updated: Tuesday, 9:15 a.m.

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — The search for four missing men who left for a boating trip out of Venice Saturday morning and never returned has been suspended by the U.S. Coast Guard, authorities said.

The search was suspended Monday at 8 p.m., according to a Venice Police Department news release.

More than 4,600 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico were searched since Sunday morning as law enforcement agencies looked for the missing boaters, the agency said.

The search extended up to 80 nautical miles offshore, spanning from Longboat Pass into southern Sarasota County and pushing into Collier County, Venice police Captain Andy Leisenring said during a Monday afternoon news conference. “So, it’s quite a wide search area.”

The missing boaters — Angel Hernandez Munoz, 38; Julio Cesar Cordero Briones, 37; and Vargas Parra, 35, of North Port; and Ruben Mora Sr., 54, of Port Charlotte — left for a boating trip from Venice on Saturday around 8 a.m. and didn’t return home that night as planned, family members told police.

The men are “experienced fishermen,” Leisenring noted.

Though the search has been suspended, other boaters are asked to be on the lookout for their vessel, a 1995 23-foot white SportCraft with the registration No. FL9937HC.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Courtney Zak at 941-486-2444 or czak@venicefl.gov. Boaters can report anything they see on the water using radio Channel 16 VHF.

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office reached out to Venice police Sunday just after 8 a.m. and asked them to check the Marina Park Boat Ramp, near the historic Venice train depot, for a pick-up truck and boat trailer left behind the group. Both were found at the park, police said.

When the group headed out Saturday, “the seas were not too rough,” Leisenring said.

Still, weather could have been a factor in their disappearance, as heavy fog rolled in Saturday afternoon and winds picked overnight with heavy rain Sunday, he added.

“Now (on Monday), conditions are roughly 4- to 6-foot seas,” he said. “It’s not very safe to be out there as a small vessel.”

As the search for the missing boaters continued Monday, Venice police Marine Patrol worked with the U.S. Coast Guard, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, the Sarasota Police Department, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, Venice Fire Rescue, Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, Lee County Sheriff’s Office and Sea Tow Venice.