Body found near pier identified

Greg Risling

NEWPORT BEACH -- A body that was found Thursday near the Balboa Pier was

identified by authorities as a Westminster man who was reported missing

for 2 1/2 weeks.

Steven Robert John, 48, was last seen leaving Long Beach on Oct. 26 on

his brother’s 12-foot boat. Authorities said John routinely took the boat

out for leisurely trips. When the brother didn’t hear from John, he went

to the victim’s work, where he found his car in a parking lot.

A missing persons report was filed by the brother with the Long Beach

Police Department.

John’s family couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

Two days later, on Oct. 28, a fisherman found the boat capsized off the

coast of Huntington Beach. There was no sign of John. The last contact

from John came the day he vanished, when the U.S. Coast Guard reported

the vessel seven miles offshore.

John’s body was discovered by a boater Thursday afternoon about a

quarter-mile north of the Balboa Pier. The boater saw the body and

reported it to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Sgt. Frank Sheets of the sheriff’s Harbor Patrol said strong currents

were the reason the body surfaced in Newport Beach.

Authorities are unsure at this point what happened to John.

The Orange County Coroner’s Department conducted an autopsy Friday and is

awaiting the results of toxicology tests to determine the cause of death.

There were no signs of blunt force trauma or foul play when authorities

examined the body.