Friends recall missing Costa Mesa man

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- Jason Huntress was no daredevil. But he dared to go

places others would be afraid to go.

He was energetic, witty and outgoing. But he was also the first person

who would turn his back on a trivial argument.

Time was too precious and life too short for “Jakey,” who had the

cutest dimples and biggest, most radiant smile. He just had too many

places to go, explore, things to do.

“Jason was a poet who lived out his poetry,” friend John Bostwick

said. “He was an optimist, someone incredibly full of life. He was never

afraid to explore things more, to step out on the edge.”

But no one knows for sure what happened on the afternoon of July 4,

when the 33-year-old Costa Mesa man dove into the ocean off a boat in

Emerald Bay, near Laguna Beach. He never came back.

Sheriff’s Department Harbor Patrol deputies have been scouring the

deep sea for more than a week looking for Huntress, a Newport Harbor High

graduate who, family and friends say, spent a lot of time on the beach

and in the ocean. But they have had no luck yet.

Even as the search continues, Huntress’ family and hundreds of his

friends, whose lives he has touched simply and intimately, say they are

reconciling to face the inevitable.

While his parents remember him as a good kid and a talented young man,

his friends say they can never forget his ever-present deep dimples and

dazzling smile.

Jason Johnson has known Huntress since their days together at

Mariner’s Elementary School, where they played Junior All-American

football.

“His nickname was Porky because he was kind of chubby at that time,”

he recalled with a laugh.

Johnson said he is still in shock. He and his friends had hoped

against hope that this was a big joke, that Huntress would pop up from

the ocean with his mischievous smile, water trickling down his dimples.

It was almost a bizarre sense of hope his friends held on to, Matt

Patterson said.

“We were hoping he was playing a prank,” he said. “A bunch of guys

spent a whole day on the beach looking for him and calling out his name.”

But they refused to believe their dear friend was gone forever.

“When I heard the news,” said friend James Brennan, “I just finished

my dinner and told myself he probably got on another boat and ended up in

Catalina. Jason had this bad habit of not saying goodbye.”

But even Brennan knows that Huntress would not have abandoned his

friends riding on the Boston Whaler with whom he had gone to Emerald Bay

to spend the Fourth of July holiday.

What came as a shock to most of Huntress’ friends and his family was

the way he presumably died -- drowned in the ocean.

“He was a water man,” Kurt “Fuzzy” Schroeder said. “I’ve seen him swim

in Mexico in the dark with a flashlight. You’d think he’s smart enough to

go down there and figure it out.”

Friends said Huntress took every opportunity he got to travel around

the world. He has been to Mexico, Tahiti, Europe and Australia to mention

a few.

He was also creative, said Candace Campos, his girlfriend of 2 1/2

years.

“He was an amazing writer,” she said. “He loved music and painting.”

Campos said she still can’t believe he is gone.

“I’m in shock even now,” she said.

“But,” she added, “I think even though it was a tragedy, it was the

way he would have chosen to die.”

BOX

A memorial service for Jason Huntress is scheduled for July 21. For

more information, call Johnny McCray Jr. at (949) 645-6567.