Search suspended for Florida boaters who went missing during fishing trip
The U.S. Coast Guard is suspending the search for two Florida boaters who went missing while fishing near Fort Myers, it announced Monday.
Fifty-seven-year-old Randall Spivey and his nephew, 33-year-old Brandon Billmaier from Weston, went fishing near Fort Myers on Friday morning and haven’t been seen since.
The Coast Guard said it was suspending the search at sunset “pending the development of new information.”
“The Coast Guard diligently searched with our pilots, boat forces, cutter crews, and numerous partners,” Lt. Amy Harrison, a search and rescue mission coordinator for Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, said in a statement. “We saturated an incredibly large search area but, unfortunately, were unable to locate the two missing men.”
The Coast Guard’s search covered approximately 6,700 square miles by land and sea.
“After the utmost consideration and careful review of all factors involved in this case, the Coast Guard made the difficult decision to suspend its active search efforts,” said Capt. Corrie Sergent, commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg. “There is no harder decision than suspending a search. I am incredibly grateful for the crews, partners, and volunteers across this community who executed this massive search with the utmost professionalism, persistence, and compassion. We offer our sincere condolences to the families and friends of Mr. Spivey and Mr. Billmaier during this extremely difficult time.”
Their family and friends told NBC6 that they’re not giving up hope and are confident that both men will be found and brought back home.
After their disappearance, the U.S. Coast Guard and dozens of volunteers intensified efforts to bring the two men home.
“Instead of going Christmas shopping for their kids today, they decided to go and save some lives today instead,” said Scott Smith, a family friend.
Investigators said Spivey and Billmaier went fishing Friday morning off the coast of Naples, near Fort Myers, which is where Smith said they did together all the time.
He said they were supposed to return to their port at 7 p.m. on Friday, but said Randy’s wife never got a notification.
“Tricia, the wife, was given a return to port time, and because Randy and Brandon did not return to port, she immediately called the Coast Guard, which was the right thing to do,” Smith said.
NBC6’s sister station in Fort Myers spoke with Tricia Spivey on Saturday.
“We’ve gotta find them,” she said. “Please. Please, please find them.”
The U.S. Coast Guard posted an image of their boat, which was found later that night.
Smith said the family has been leaning on faith.
“Their strength is so inspiring and so encouraging to me,” he said. “We’re actually gathering strength from Deborah, who just got married to Brandon 15 months ago, a newlywed, and also from Tricia, who’s been married for around 30 years to Randy. It’s their strength and positivity that we’re blown away by.”
