Remains found on Nanaimo beach identified as missing 35-year-old man
Ryan Pratt, 35, was living on a sailboat moored off Hammond Bay Road when he was reported missing to police on Dec. 2, 2023. (RCMP)
Mounties have identified a set of human remains discovered on a beach this week as those of a 35-year-old man who was reported missing late last year.
Ryan Pratt was living on a sailboat moored off Hammond Bay Road when he was reported missing to police on Dec. 2, 2023.
His friends reported him overdue that day after he was last seen heading toward his boat in a small skiff the previous afternoon.
A search was launched and Nanaimo RCMP officers checked the sailboat but he was not there. His red aluminum skiff was found washed up on a nearby island, and a canoe he often used was also found adrift.
At approximately 10 a.m. Wednesday, police were called to the beach area in Nanaimo's Neck Point Park after a body was reportedly found.
Police were initially unable to positively identify the man.
"However, several tattoos were located on the remains and photographed," the Nanaimo RCMP said in a news release Friday. "These photographs, along with other identifying marks, allowed investigators to confirm the remains were that of a 35-year old man reported missing on Dec. 2, 2023."
Police say the man's family has been notified of the discovery and victim services personnel are engaged in the case.
The B.C. Coroners Service is conducting a death investigation, police said.
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