Drowned fisherman's body identified

MADEIRA BEACH -- Officials have identified a body found floating off Egmont Key as that of Garth Michael Spacek, a fisherman who had been missing since Friday.

Spacek, 43, of Madeira Beach, went overboard 20 miles off Longboat Key after what authorities called an altercation with crew. The U.S. Coast Guard searched for 38 hours, covering 322 square miles, but couldn't find Spacek.

On Monday, a charter fishing boat from John's Pass Village came across the floating body of a man. The captain of The Hub contacted the Coast Guard, said Josh Foster, manager of Hubbard's Marina.

Foster said the boat carried a grandfather and two grandsons visiting from Tennessee. They were out for a day of offshore fishing when they saw something in the water.

"At first they thought they were seeing a sea turtle but when they got close they realized it obviously wasn't," Foster said.

The Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner's Office used fingerprints to confirm that the body was Spacek's, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the FBI in Tampa. A cause of death had been determined, said FBI spokeswoman Sara Oates, but the FBI wouldn't release that information.

No arrests had been made or charges filed in connection with the case, Oates said, but the investigation was continuing.

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