Photo: Lee County Sheriff’s Office/Twitter
The remains of a Florida man were found on a sunken sailboat months afterHurricane Ianstruck in September.
James “Denny” Hurst’sbody was found on a boat, named “Good Girl,” after divers discovered the sunken vessel in Matanzas Pass in Fort Myers Beach, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office shared over the weekend. Hurst was thelast known missing person in Lee Countyconnected to the storm, per NBC News.
“The remains have been positively identified as James Denny Hurst. Mr. Hurst’s family has been notified. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family,” Sheriff Carmine Marceno wrote on social media.
“I mean, you know, we all know it’s him,” Hurst’s daughter, Shannon Vaughan, told the outlet after the remains were initially found. “There’s absolutely no doubt. Like I said, he lived on the boat.”
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Hurst was last seen onlast seen on the boatthe day Hurricane Ian made landfall on Sept. 28, per the outlet.“It’s finally done. You know? It’s just finally done,” added Vaughan. “We’re glad that you’re finally found and you’re home. I love you. I miss you. We all do.”
Days before Hurst’s discovery, the body of 82-year-old Ilonka Knes, who had been missing since the hurricane, wasdiscovered “deep within the mangroves” of Fort Myers Beach, Marceno said at a press conference last week.
After family requested a welfare check for the woman on Oct. 7, she was declared missing on Oct. 15, officials said. Her husband Robert Knes, 81, wasfound deadshortly after the storm slammed into the state, according to the Associated Press.
In total, 75 people from Lee County have died as a result of Hurricane Ian, per NBC News, which reported that there have beenover 140 deaths statewide in connection to the storm.
source: people.com
