‘Badly decomposed’ body found in Bodega Bay

A decomposed body was found floating in the shallow water of Bodega Bay on Saturday. Acting Captain Jason Downing of Bodega Bay Fire and Rescue said that the body was naked, and was so badly decomposed that its sex and age were unidentifiable.

The report of a body off the Doran Beach jetty came in to the Coast Guard at noon.

“We launched our 47-foot lifeboat, and when we got on scene, we identified that it was not a recent body that had ended up in the water,” said Elizabeth Scheidel, petty officer second class.

That’s when the Bodega Bay Fire and Rescue crew came into play. The body was in water too shallow for the Coast Guard boat to reach it, so the fire department had to deploy one of its swimmers to recover the body, Acting Captain Jason Downing said.

Scheidel said about five people were escorted off the jetty by the Coast Guard, so that they wouldn’t have to walk past the scene on the beach.

The Sonoma County Coroner’s Office will work to identify the body.

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 521-5205 or christi.warren@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @SeaWarren.