Man drowns at Back Bay

A Santa Ana resident was found drowned early Tuesday morning near the Newport Dunes Aquatic Park following a lengthy search that began when the man was reported missing the night before.

Shortly after 9 p.m. Monday, responders entered the Back Bay when Richard Edward Diffee, 29, was reported to have gone under the water. At 1:07 a.m. on Tuesday, a dive team from the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol located Diffee’s body with a sonar device. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sgt. Bill Hartford of the Newport Beach Police Department said that Diffee had been kayaking through the bay with his father and fell off the boat by accident. Afterward, his father tried to locate him under the surface and called the police when he was unsuccessful.

“There was some sort of medical issue with the deceased,” Hartford said.

A number of agencies ? including the harbor patrol, Newport Beach Fire Department, Laguna Beach Fire Department and California State Park lifeguards ? responded to the scene. Lt. Ted Boyne of the Orange County Sheriff’s Emergency Communications Bureau said Diffee was found in about 9 feet of water.

Lt. Erin Giudice of the harbor patrol said authorities knew little of the victim’s condition at the time of the drowning.

“We’re not sure if he was suffering from something, under the influence of something,” she said. “It’s all unknown at this time.”

Cullen Ellingburgh, a spokesman for the Orange County Coroner’s Office, said an autopsy and toxicology would be done on the victim to see if any alcohol or drugs had been involved in the accident.