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# Surfer finds dead body near SM pier
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/surfer-finds-dead-body-near-sm-pier/
- Published: 2005-03-16T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T06:16:13.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Sports, Pier, #archive-import, Homeless

*Bay Street local stayed with woman’s body and flagged down help*

BAY STREET — A surfer on Monday discovered a dead body floating just below the surface of the ocean south of the Santa Monica Pier.

Michael Wagenvoord, who has surfed for some 25 years at the break known as Bay Street, was alone when he noticed the 35-year-old woman’s body. He stayed with it and flagged down help from the shore.

The woman’s body was fully clothed and wore two pairs of earrings, a blue stone necklace, a fake lei, beads and other jewelry, according to Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Lt. Cheryl MacWillie. There was no sign of trauma to the woman’s body and the incident has been classified as a suicide or an accident.

Investigators have not been able to identify the woman, a brunette who stood 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed 134 pounds. MacWillie said the woman wore four or five layers of clothing and may have been homeless.

“She is probably a transient,”

MacWillie said Tuesday. “She’s not been identified. We do not have anything coming back to her from friends.”

The cause of death was unknown Tuesday and an autopsy was scheduled to take place today.

Wagenvoord was shaken up after discovering the woman during a morning surf session, friends said. Randy Wright, owner of Horizons West Surf Shop, said Wagenvoord later told him how he had come upon the body and signaled for help.

“He was surfing yesterday down at Bay Street, right around the storm drain area, and he said, ‘Yeah, got a few waves and saw something floating,’” Wright said. “There was nobody with him that he could paddle into the shore (for help).

“That’s kind of gnarly,” added Wright, whose surf shop at Main and Bay streets is near where the body was discovered. “Don’t see too many floaters out there. I guess the lifeguards do, but not if you’re surfing.”

Lifeguard spokesman Garth Canning said Wagenvoord caught the attention of a beachgoer, who then retrieved a lifeguard. The lifeguard paddled out on a paddle board, verified that there was a dead body in the water and called for a Baywatch rescue boat from Marina del Rey. The body was lifted onto the Santa Monica Pier, where Santa Monica Police took over the investigation.

Authorities said the body was not in an advanced state of decomposition and likely was in the water for three or four days, maybe less.

Canning said lifeguards discover dead bodies more frequently than people may think. Though sometimes people die from swimming or surfing in large waves, a more frequent cause is suicide, Canning said.

“It happens occasionally,” he added. “Especially around the holidays, people commit suicide, jump off piers, accidental deaths. While not a usual occurrence, it definitely happens on a yearly basis.”

Still, it’s rare that surfers discover the bodies. Wright, who has surfed in the Santa Monica Bay since 1976, came upon one dead body in the water nine years ago, but said he’d never heard of another surfer doing so... until now.

Wright’s encounter was in 1986, at the Venice breakwater, while he was surfing with friends. He said his group noticed the decomposed body of an elderly man and went for help.

By the time lifeguards arrived, Wright said the body couldn’t be found. Three days later it washed ashore.

“It’s crazy,” Wright said on Tuesday. “You go and get some waves, and see something and go, ‘Oh my god.’”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/031605-02_01-7.jpg)

GOLDEN SANDS: Out-of-state tourists Scott Wathen, 40, and Amanda Bennion, 21, walk along Santa Monica Beach in the same area a dead body was discovered by a surfer. (Photo: John Wood/Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 16, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/031605.pdf?ref=smdp.com)