CHARLOTTE COUNTY (UPDATE) - The Lee County Sheriff's Office's has confirmed a body was pulled from Lee County waters off of Charlotte Harbor Sunday afternoon. They have confirmed the body is that of missing North Port boater, 62-year-old Jim Winkler.
His death has been ruled as a suicide with nothing suspicious and that he acted alone to take his own life.
CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. -- A body has been pulled from the waters at Burnt Store Marina. The question now: is it that of a boater who disappeared last week?
Sunday's find could be the key to solving a mystery that began with a one-man fishing trip Thursday. That's when 62-year-old Jim Winkler set out on his own from El Jobean Marina on the Myakka River in Charlotte County. A search began early Friday after he did not return overnight. Authorities located his empty boat later near jug creek off Pine Island in Lee County. And now the discovery of the body in between those two points, near the Lee-Charlotte County line.
Authorites are yet to identify the body found in these waters Sunday, but locals tell Fox 4 their intuition is telling them the discovery could be the end of hope for Winkler's loved ones.
