New Details Emerge After 2 Die On Overnight Canoe Trip In Marin County: Police

MARIN COUNTY, CA — One of two people who died during an overnight canoeing trip on Tomales Bay has been identified as a 36-year-old San Francisco man, authorities announced Monday.

Casey Flynn Melia and a companion had set out around midnight Saturday to view bioluminescence and planned to camp at White Gulch Beach, Marin County Fire officials said.

New details released by the Marin County Sheriff's Office Coroner Division show that Melia and his companion departed a campsite on Tomales Bay just before midnight. When they did not return the following morning, members of their camping party called 911.

Emergency crews were called around 10:45 a.m. Sunday, launching a multi-agency search involving water rescue crews and air support.

Search crews first found Melia's companion unresponsive in the water, officials said. The U.S. Coast Guard recovered the person and transported them to Bodega Bay, where emergency personnel pronounced them dead.

The identity of that person has not yet been released.

The Sonoma County Sheriff-Coroner Bureau is leading the investigation into that death.

A short time later, search crews found Melia unresponsive near Hog Island, according to the Marin County Sheriff's Office.

National Park Service personnel recovered him and brought him to Sacramento Landing, where first responders pronounced him dead, officials said.

Both canoeists were wearing life vests when they were found, according to Marin County Fire.

Officials have not determined what caused their deaths.

A forensic post-mortem examination and toxicology testing for Melia are scheduled for later this week.

His official cause and manner of death remain pending as the Marin County Sheriff's Office, U.S. Coast Guard and National Park Service continue investigating.