Body of a man found on beach off Gordon Drive in Naples, death ruled a suicide

A body was found on the shoreline near the 3800 block of Gordon Drive Wednesday evening. Following further investigation, Naples police determined that no foul play was involved and the man had died by his own hand.

A good Samaritan alerted police to the body washed up on the beach in the area of Port Royal. He says police told him they found a wallet on the body, and the male victim was born in 1988.

“We just came out here to scope out some spots to fish snook and end up walking across this,” Anthony Garcia said.

Garcia told us it was not immediately clear a man’s body had washed ashore.

“My first thought was I saw it far away, and I thought it might have been a fish or maybe a dolphin,” Garcia said. “But, as we got closer, it became more and more apparent that it was an actual body.”

Garcia says they immediately called 911, and officers arrived soon after.

“Within 10 minutes, they had the marine unit out,” Garcia said. “And then a couple minutes later, the uniform officers showed up.”

Garcia says they couldn’t believe what they saw.

“It was really surprising. We saw it and we were like, ‘I don’t know what this person is doing just kinda, like, sprawled,’ and it was very weird when we got closer it was apparent he wasn’t alive, so we decided to call the police,” Garcia said.

Garcia said he never imagined he would come across a scene like this.

“Sad and very shocking,” Garcia said. “Especially in Naples, nothing like this happens here, or you hope nothing else would happen here.”

Garcia says it’s an image he won’t forget.

“The face was very disturbing to see,” Garcia said. “I feel really bad. My condolences to his family. It’s very sad.”