On the afternoon of Saturday, January 26th, rangers received a report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission advising that they’d found an unoccupied 25-foot boat running in circles east of Elliott Key just outside the boundary of the park. Rangers joined commission officers and Coast Guard personnel in searching the area where the operator was thought to have last been and in checking the shorelines of several islands within the park. The Coast Guard flew 20 missions in the search effort, but all were unsuccessful. On Tuesday, January 29th, a boater found the body of Dan Stonionis, 45, floating about three miles east of Boca Chita Key and within the park. It’s still unclear exactly what happened, but indications are that Stonionis fell out of the boat while trolling and was unable to get back to it. The investigation continues.
