FL FL - Todd Battaglino, 50, boater, Royal Marina, Englewood, Sarasota County, 7 Jan 2019

[cybervampira]

Sarasota County (FL) Sheriff's Office

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office is currently conducting a missing person investigation.

Detectives were notified today just after 12:00 p.m., of a missing boater who last communicated with his family on Monday afternoon around 3:00 p.m.

Todd Battaglino, DOB 10/02/68, is an avid boater who often goes offshore for recreational purposes. He should be operating a 20’ Parker boat, white in color with a tan t-top. The boat’s decal reads “FL-0209PY.”

Members of the agency’s Patrol and Investigations Bureaus as well as the Aviation Unit, are responding and working in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard, FWC, and Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, to locate Mr. Battaglino.

Anyone who has information regarding his recent
whereabouts or who comes into contact with Mr. Battaglino is asked to dial 911 immediately.



Multiple agencies searching for missing 50-year-old boater in Sarasota

 

[cybervampira]

Boat found unoccupied:

Sarasota County boater still missing, boat found unoccupied

 

[Blueberry2720]

Confirmed as deceased:

Search ends for missing boater

 

[1MTIrish]

Confirmed as deceased:

Search ends for missing boater

That link references a boater missing in 2014.

 

[cybervampira]

Here‘s the latest from a local source.

Missing Venice boater's boat found 16 miles off Charlotte County

Authorities found the boat belonging to a missing boater, but he remains missing, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office reports.

[...]

On Tuesday at about 6 p.m. a Coast Guard helicopter found Battaglino’s boat about 16 miles west of Stump Pass Beach State Park in Charlotte County. The vessel was unoccupied and adrift. The Coast Guard, Sarasota and Charlotte sheriff’s offices, Venice Police Department and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are continuing to search at 200-square-mile area.

 

[cybervampira]

Search for missing boater from Venice ends without boater being found

The U.S. Coast Guard has ended a search for a missing 50-year-old boater from Venice.

At 6:45pm Wednesday, after 98 hours of searching and around 3,860 square miles searched, the U.S. Coast Guard suspended the search for Battaglino.

 

[YaYa_521]

Todd Benedict Battaglino – The Charley Project

 

[iulia]

Adding his NamUs page The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[PayrollNerd]

Todd Benedict Battaglino – The Charley Project

This is confusing to me. It says his boat was adrift. But, if the engine was in full throttle that means the boat was going forward? Adrift to me makes me think it was floating along without power.

Details of Disappearance
Battaglino was last seen in Englewood, Florida at 3:00 p.m. on January 7, 2019. He left the Royal Palm Marina in the 700 block of west Wentworth Street in his eighteen-foot boat, a white 2014 Parker model. He had told his family and friends he was going fishing by himself in the Gulf, something he often did. He never returned. His family reported him missing at midnight.

At 6:00 p.m. on January 8, a Coast Guard helicopter found Battaglino's boat, empty and adrift about sixteen miles west of Stump Pass Beach State Park in Charlotte County, Florida. The boat's engine was in full throttle and the fishing lines were still in the water. The Coast Guard searched for another twenty-four hours, but never found Battaglino or his body, and suspended the search after that. He is presumed lost at sea.

 

[curiousCami]

That's confusing to me also. Maybe it was circling, which I've heard before. Or possibly out of fuel? And, I'm not a fisherman but I wouldn't think you'd put lines out while going full throttle either.

 

[megs1477]

That's confusing to me also. Maybe it was circling, which I've heard before. Or possibly out of fuel? And, I'm not a fisherman but I wouldn't think you'd put lines out while going full throttle either.

Adrift can mean "not being steered." I think we automatically picture a boat just floating. Regarding the fishing, I have been grouper fishing in the Gulf, and you put the lines in the water off the back of the boat and drive until you get a hit. I don't think we were going "full throttle" but we were going decently fast. You use very big, sturdy poles. Not your average fishing pole.

 

[Avram0r]

That's confusing to me also. Maybe it was circling, which I've heard before. Or possibly out of fuel? And, I'm not a fisherman but I wouldn't think you'd put lines out while going full throttle either.

I grew up fishing and it is something my dad would do when changing locations. Sometimes the line is over 100' and pulled up by hand so rather than hauling up to move we'd just ensure it didn't come in contact with the motor. But it is possible he fell forward, snagged the throttle forward and fell over the motor which would likely result in a head injury.