Male drowning victim recovered on St. Vincent Island

The body of one of two men who jumped off the Eastpoint fishing pier about 2 p.m. Friday was recovered Sunday morning off St. Vincent Island.

In a Facebook Live video Sunday morning,  Sheriff A. J. Smith said officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission responded to a call from individuals who were engaged in a primitive hunt on the  island, after they had spotted the body of someone washed up on the St. Vincent beach.

In an earlier video Friday night, the sheriff  said that after a call came in about 6 p.m. Friday, the sheriff’s office’;s chief deputy, Cliff Carroll, responded. The call said two men had jumped off the fishing pier on the north side of the Apalachicola Bay, about three-quarters of a mile offshore.

Lt. Lawrence Brannan  was also on the scene, and he threw a life preserver to one of the men, and he was rescued.

The other man, who was unable to swim, had already gone underwater, said the sheriff.

“They were drinking heavily and decided to jump into ther bay,” said Smith.

The sheriff said that three other men on the bridge among those who were fishing were arrested for disorderly intoxication.

Smith said the names of the two men who jumped in the water are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The sheriff said the men are not from here, and were in the county doing work for a local company.

Smith said the search continues for Staci Peterson, who disappeared from the beach at Dr. Julian Bruce St. George Island State Park early Thursday morning, Oct. 20. She is believed to have drowned.