Photo by Garrett Milanovich
UPDATE – 2/13/15 at 12:45 p.m.
St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office has identified the body found at the beach earlier this week as Garth Sangree.
The body was found by a fisherman in Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve on Wednesday, Feb. 11. St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the manner of death was accidental and the cause of death was drowning.
Because of decomposition, dental records were used for identification.
Spinnaker will update the story as new information becomes available.
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A body was discovered on the beach near the 2000 block of north Florida A1A by * around 2 p.m. on Feb. 11 according to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.
No other missing people have been reported recently to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. Commander Chuck Mulligan said there is a likelihood that it could possibly be missing UNF student Garth Sangree.
The Jacksonville Beach Police Department was also at the scene. Mulligan said the body has been in the water for a while now, so it has gone through decomposition. However, the body has not been identified yet, as that is up to the medical examiner.
Photo by Garrett Milanovich
Mark Smith, Sangree’s pastor, told Spinnaker that if the body is in fact Garth, it would be great for his family to have some closure.
Spinnaker will update this story as new information becomes available.
*2/11/15 at 7:35 p.m. – Updated with the corrected name “Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve.”
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