Crime & Safety
Update: Body Found Floating Off Dana Point Coast ID'd
Authorities find the body of a man floating off Monarch Beach and identify him as Frank Daniel Austin, the swimmer missing since Sunday.
This story has been updated with the identity of the man.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department found the body of an adult male floating off the coast of Dana Point’s Monarch Beach Saturday and confirmed that it is , who went missing a week ago while swimming in the area.
At approximately 8:45 a.m. Saturday, Orange County Sheriff’s deputies with Dana Point Harbor Patrol found a body in the water about 100 yards off shore at Monarch Beach.
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The body was transported to the Coroner’s office, and the department is now in the process of conducting a death investigation, the sheriff’s department announced.
Austin, 34, went missing on Sunday around 4 p.m. after he went swimming with a underwater camera at Salt Creek Beach, authorities reported. Lifeguards searched for him for several days, but there was no sign of him, and the search and rescue operation was eventually called off.
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An autopsy was pending Sunday on the body of the Rowland Heights man who apparently drowned off Salt Creek Beach amid high surf Sept. 2.
A spokesman for the Orange County coroner's office said the body was positively identified through fingerprint comparison.
—City News Service contributed to this report.
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