The body discovered off Harbour Island on Saturday April 20th 2013, was that of an American tourist, Jeffrey Bolton, 47, of Palm Beach, Florida.
According to police, on Friday March 19th, 2013 after 6:30pm, an anonymous caller contacted the Harbour Island Police station via telephone and reported that an American visitor to Harbour Island went swimming in the area of the Narrows which is located on the northern end of Harbour Island and was swept out to sea and had not resurfaced.
Information reaching our news desk indicates that Mr. Bolton, his wife and a number of friends who witnessed the incident had all arrived in Harbour Island that same day.
Officers from the Harbour Island Police Station responded to the scene where they spoke with a relative of the victim who reported that he along with several friends went for a swim but he was not a strong swimmer and was swept out to sea by the rip current.
This reportedly occurred in the area of Jacob’s Cay off Harbour Island.
The Officer In Charge (OIC) of Harbour Island assisted by other Officers and a number of boat captains from local water taxis assisted with conducting searches in and around the area for several hours in an effort to locate Jeffrey Bolton with negative results. The search was halted due to darkness after sunset.
On Saturday April 20, 2013 at about 9:05am the OIC of Harbour Island and a team of local water taxi drivers returned to the area where they continued their search. The body of a Caucasian male matching the description of the missing person was found lying face down on a beach on the south eastern section of Bird Cay which is located approximately two miles north of Harbour Island.
The victim was transported by boat to Harbour Island where he was examined by Dr. Modesto Kapuno and was pronounced dead. The body was later secured at the Harbour Island Morgue.
At about 2:40pm on Saturday April 20, 2013 the body of the deceased was transported to New Providence via private plane where an autopsy is expected to be performed. Bolton was a Certified Public Accountant and was a founding partner of Daszkal Bolton LLP, an accounting firm in South Florida.