Body of missing jet skier found floating in ocean

By KPIC.com Staff Published: Mar 5, 2013 at 1:38 PM PDT Last Updated: Mar 5, 2013 at 6:56 PM PDT

LINCOLN CITY, Ore. -- The body of a man who went missing after a jet ski excursion in the Pacific Ocean has been found.

Daniel Lee Ahlers, 24, of Lincoln City was found  early Tuesday morning floating in the ocean off Depoe Bay. An autopsy is tentatively pending to help determine the cause of death.

Ahlers had been reported missing Monday evening to Lincoln City police after he didn't return from jet skiing in the ocean.

Lincoln County deputies located the man's vehicle and jet ski trailer in the parking lot at Knight Park near the mouth of Salmon River north of Lincoln City.

The U.S. Coast Guard launched a boat and helicopter to search the ocean for the man, and at about 1 a.m., an abandoned jet ski was spotted in the ocean off Salmon River. The search led to the discovery of a body floating in the water about a mile off Depoe Bay.

Coast Guard personnel retrieved the body around 7:30 a.m. and brought it to the Depoe Bay Station, but water conditions kept them from retrieving the jet ski.