October 11, 2002                          

For immediate release

Contact: Gary Davidson, Public Information Officer

 

 

BODY OF ORMOND BEACH MAN RECOVERED IN THE HALIFAX RIVER  

 

Volusia County Sheriff’s investigators are awaiting autopsy reports to determine what killed a 75-year-old Ormond-by-the-Sea man found floating in the Halifax River behind his home on John Anderson Drive Thursday night. Investigators believe the victim, Benjamin Whaley, either accidentally stumbled into the river and drowned or suffered some sort of medical episode. There were no signs of trauma on the victim’s body, and foul play is not suspected. 

Whaley’s wife called the Sheriff’s Office at about 6:39 p.m. Thursday evening after she returned to the couple’s home at 2860 John Anderson Drive and couldn’t find her husband. At about 7:20 p.m., deputies searching along the river spotted Whaley’s body in the water just behind his residence. A county beach patrol unit brought the body to the shore, and paramedics with County Fire Services pronounced the victim dead at 7:29 p.m.

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