Coast Guard recovers body off Florida coast belonging to missing family of four

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., June 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Coast Guard recovered a body off the coast of Florida on Wednesday that officials believe belongs to one of four family members who disappeared from a sailboat in the area.

Earlier Wednesday, officials said a father and his three teenage children went missing from the sailboat, which left Sarasota on Sunday. Tuesday, the Coast Guard received a report that the four were overdue.

The U.S. Coast Guard has been searching Florida's Gulf Coast for the sailboat, which belongs to Ace Kimberly, 45. His children, Rebecca, 17, Donny, 15 and Roger, 13, were also aboard.

The 29-foot sailboat was headed to Fort Myers, but Kimberly called his brother Sunday afternoon and said he and the children were attempting to survive rough seas off the coast of Englewood.

Wednesday, Coast Guard officials said search teams had located a debris field in the area that included life vests, a tarp, 4 water bottles, a basketball, at least one tennis shoe and a propane tank.

Later, officials said a body belonging to one of the four had been found, but didn't identify which one.

The body was spotted from a Coast Guard helicopter at about 4:30 p.m. local time Wednesday.

Coast Guard stations along the Florida coast are employing planes and boats, as well as the agency's Maritime Emergency Response Team of state and local maritime emergency responders, to search for the sailboat, officials said.

A family member reportedly told officials that the man and his children lived full-time on the sailboat.