Local
Melbourne Beach bodyboarder still missing Monday as reports on search status conflict
A man remains missing after going under while riding a bodyboard off Melbourne Beach on Sunday morning. Multiple agencies searched by air, boat and shore Sunday amid a high rip-current risk, but Monday-morning reports conflict on whether the search has been suspended and whether the man's identity has been publicly released. 321 Daily could not independently resolve the discrepancy before publication.
MELBOURNE BEACH, Fla. — A man remained missing Monday after he went underwater and did not resurface while riding a bodyboard off Melbourne Beach on Sunday morning, according to the Brevard County Sheriff's Office. Public accounts on Monday differed on whether the search had been suspended and whether the man's identity had been released, and 321 Daily could not independently resolve that conflict before publication.
What happened Sunday
The Brevard County Sheriff's Office said the man went into the water around 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, near A1A and Cove Road in the 4000 block of Highway A1A in Melbourne Beach, and disappeared while riding a boogie board, according to reporting from ClickOrlando and FOX 35 Orlando that cited the Sheriff's Office. He has been described publicly only as a man in his 50s in those Sunday reports.
Multiple agencies responded Sunday, including the Brevard County Sheriff's Office, Brevard County Fire Rescue, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, according to WFTV. ClickOrlando and FOX 35 Orlando reported a helicopter searched from the air while other first responders scanned the water from shore with binoculars; FOX 35 Orlando reported the search remained active as of 3:15 p.m. Sunday.
Rip current risk
The National Weather Service's Melbourne office had a high rip current risk in effect for Brevard's coastal waters over the weekend and renewed the advisory at 2:30 a.m. Monday, covering mainland southern Brevard and the southern Brevard barrier islands — including Melbourne Beach — through late Monday night. The agency has not said what role, if any, rip currents played in Sunday's incident, and 321 Daily is not drawing that connection; the advisory is weather context only.
Monday: conflicting reports
WFTV, an Orlando television station, reported Monday morning that Brevard County deputies had identified the missing man as 53-year-old Jason Doyle and that deputies "still have a boat searching the area Monday morning." The same WFTV report's headline described the search as suspended — an internal inconsistency 321 Daily could not resolve. A U.S. Coast Guard Southeast social media post, cited elsewhere as saying the Coast Guard and Sheriff's Office suspended the search Monday pending new information, was not directly accessible to 321 Daily for independent verification.
No other source 321 Daily reviewed — including the original ClickOrlando and FOX 35 Orlando accounts of Sunday's search — had published the man's name as of the versions available Monday morning.
What 321 Daily could not confirm
Because of the conflicting Monday-morning accounts, 321 Daily is not reporting the missing man's name and is not characterizing the search as either active or suspended beyond what is described above. His condition, an exact cause, and the current search status remain unconfirmed publicly as of this writing.