BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS Body washes ashore...

BRIEFLY IN

THE NEWS

Body washes ashore near Balboa Pier

The body of an unidentified young man washed ashore near the

Balboa Pier early Monday morning.

Mark King, 26, of Valencia, was eating breakfast at Ruby’s when he

was alerted to the body at about 8:44 a.m. by a fisherman. King then

contacted police, who contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor

Patrol.

A young man’s body was recovered, said Capt. Jim Turner of the

Newport Beach Lifeguard Department. The coroner’s office will perform

an autopsy today.

The body could be that of 18-year-old swimmer Roy Lee, who

disappeared off Huntington Beach on March 14, but that has not been

confirmed, Newport Beach Sgt. Steve Shulman said.

In addition to the Harbor Patrol, Newport Beach police, fire,

lifeguards and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department responded.

King said a fisherman was the first to discover the body.

“I was eating breakfast before work with my parents and a

fisherman guy came in panicked and said something about a body, so I

ran out after him and looked out into the pier and it looked like a

guy in his late teens,” King said, adding that the person was wearing

trunks.

-- Deirdre Newman