Body Found Floating Near Channel Marker 16 In Marathon's Boot Key Harbor

A passerby spotted a man's body floating in the water near Channel Marker 16 in Boot Key Harbor at about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday, setting off a death investigation that has left Monroe County Sheriff's Office detectives searching for basic answers, including who he was.

Detectives responded to the scene in Boot Key Harbor and are now working to identify the man, according to Tampa Free Press, which first reported the discovery. Investigators say foul play is not believed to be a factor in the death, though the man's official cause of death has not yet been determined. His body has been turned over to the medical examiner's office, where autopsy results remain pending.

A Harbor Built for Hundreds of Boats — and the People Who Watch It

Boot Key Harbor is one of the busiest liveaboard anchorages in the Florida Keys, with a municipal mooring field that includes 226 engineered mooring balls and transient dockage for vessels up to 60 feet, according to the City of Marathon. That density of boat traffic, paired with open water and constant dinghy movement between vessels and shore, means passing mariners are often the ones who first notice something wrong on the water, as was the case Tuesday.

Shore-side facilities along Marathon's waterfront corridor, including dinghy docks, fuel stations, restrooms and showers, support the hundreds of liveaboard boaters anchored or moored in the harbor, Hoodline has reported. That same waterfront infrastructure was the backdrop for a separate incident earlier this month, when a marina shower line fight ended in a rock attack and an arrest.

Why the Case Now Sits With the Medical Examiner

Under Florida Statute 406.11, district medical examiners are legally required to investigate and perform autopsies for unattended deaths, deaths that occur in water, or deaths under unusual circumstances, according to the Florida Senate. That statute is why the man's body was transferred out of Sheriff's Office custody and into the hands of forensic examiners rather than remaining solely a law enforcement matter.

Monroe County's District 16 Medical Examiner's Office is headquartered at 56639 Overseas Highway in Marathon, putting the county's primary forensic facility in the same municipality where the body was found, per Monroe County Government records. Florida law also allows medical examiners to proceed with autopsies without needing permission from a deceased person's next of kin, according to guidance published by St. Johns County Government, which helps explain why the examination can move forward even before the man is identified or his family notified.

A Recurring Pattern in Marathon's Waters

Water-related death investigations are not new to Boot Key Harbor. In February 2022, Sheriff's Office deputies investigated the death of a 54-year-old liveaboard resident found floating near his vessel, with no foul play suspected, according to a City of Marathon municipal report. In March 2020, deputies responded to a similar case after a passing mariner in a dinghy spotted a man's body floating about 50 yards offshore near 15th Street in Marathon, as the Sheriff's Office noted in a post on its official Facebook page.

Hoodline also reported last year on the case of Tony Vescolani, an 84-year-old Michigan man found dead floating near a boat slip in Marathon in an unattended water death with no foul play suspected. The Sheriff's Office Central Dispatch Center and Marine Patrol units operate around the clock to monitor Key waterways and coordinate emergency water recoveries in the harbor, according to a regional report from the South Florida Regional Planning Council. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers also routinely patrol Boot Key Harbor's channels, citing derelict or sunken vessels that pose navigational hazards, Keys Weekly has reported.

For now, the identity of the man found Tuesday remains unknown, and both his cause of death and the circumstances that led him into the water are still under investigation. Sheriff's Office detectives have not released further details as the medical examiner's autopsy results remain pending.