OCEAN CITY — Ocean City Police have identified the body found floating in the ocean late Tuesday afternoon as a Prince George’s County man although the circumstances surrounding the death remain unclear.
Around 4:20 p.m. on Tuesday, Ocean City Beach Patrol lifeguards responding to a citizen tip located an unidentified deceased male in the ocean around 127th Street. The body was brought to shore and showed signs of being in the water for an extended amount of time.
Ocean City Police Department Criminal Investigation Division Major Crimes Unit detectives arrived on the scene and took over the investigation. After an extensive investigation that closed a portion of the beach in the area of 127th Street late Tuesday afternoon, the body was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy.
Through the investigation, OCPD detectives were able to positively identify the body as Michael West, 25, of Temple Hills, Md. The autopsy results are still pending from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, but Ocean City police detectives have determined West’s death was not suspicious in nature.
Detectives also learned West had been reported as a missing person to the Prince George’s County Police Department and was last seen on Sunday, Aug. 7, around 5 a.m. in the area of 127th Street in Ocean City.
The Ocean City Police Department this week is thanking the many citizens that provided helpful information that aided detectives in bringing the case to a close.
