San Diego police are investigating the discovery of a man’s body in the water off Mission Beach late Wednesday morning.
Lifeguards discovered the body about 2 1/2 miles off the shoreline about 11 a.m., officials said. They had been drawn to the area by a fisherman who saw a flock of seagulls in the water and went to investigate, according to San Diego television station KGTV.
When they found the body, the man was only wearing only board shorts and was found with a chain around his waist.
Homicide Lt. Anthony Dupree described the chain as a “half-inch linked chain. It almost looks like someone may wear it as a belt.”
Dupree also said there were no obvious signs of trauma or evidence that the body had been weighed down with anything. Still, they’re investigating the death as suspicious because of the chain.
“There is a chain around his waist and concerning but there’s nothing else to indicate, no obvious signs of trauma to the body at all that we can tell so that’s one of the reasons we’re called out and we’re going to investigate it as a suspicious death,” Dupree told KTLA sister station KSWB in San Diego. “We will be checking all our missing person reports to see if there is someone that is unaccounted for.”
The man’s identity was not immediately released. Police said he was white, possibly in his 30s or 40s.