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Search for Missing Florida Boaters Is Suspended as FBI Assumes Investigation

Their 42-foot boat was found adrift 70 miles offshore, still running with its emergency beacon onboard.

Fort Myers attorney Randy Spivey and his nephew, Brandon Billmaier (pictured), have gone missing off the coast of Naples during a Dec. 19 fishing trip.
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Overview

  • Randall “Randy” Spivey, 57, and his nephew Brandon Billmaier, 33, went missing after departing Friday morning for a day fishing trip from a private dock in Iona near Fort Myers.
  • The Coast Guard located their green 42-foot Freeman catamaran, Unstoppable, early Saturday about 70 miles west of Fort Myers with no one aboard and the vessel still in gear.
  • Active Coast Guard search operations were suspended at sunset Monday after covering roughly 6,700 square miles with cutters, aircraft and partner agencies in light winds and 3-foot seas.
  • The FBI is now leading a missing-persons investigation, and the recovered vessel was brought to Station Fort Myers Beach for examination.
  • Family members and volunteers organized coordinated searches and public appeals as the Coast Guard cautioned that uncoordinated efforts could create unsafe conditions; both missing men are attorneys, with Billmaier confirmed as a trial lawyer at Shiner Law Group.