Overview

• Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency ruled Warner’s cause of death as accidental asphyxiation by submersion and confirmed that his daughter remained on shore when he entered the water.
• Surfers and a volunteer lifeguard responded to a strong rip current at Playa Grande, retrieving Warner and performing roughly 45 minutes of CPR before he was pronounced dead on scene.
• A Nicaraguan rescuer who also became trapped in the current was hospitalized in critical condition but has since been treated without complications and released.
• No official lifeguards were on duty at the beach due to Caribbean Guard volunteers being redeployed to other high-incident areas under chronic funding shortfalls.
• Warner’s death has intensified public and political calls to strengthen beach safety measures and shore up lifeguard funding, while tributes pour in for the actor’s legacy and devotion to fatherhood.