<b>BREAKING NEWS</b>

An Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol boat racing to the scene of a body in the water at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club apparently struck and killed a swan known affectionately around Newport Harbor as Rupert.

Newport Beach police are investigating the discovery of a woman’s body wrapped in a blanket. Investigators are considering it a homicide.

Police pulled bloodstained material out of a trash bin in front of about 30 spectators at the scene Wednesday evening. Some snapped pictures of it with their cell phones.

A dock worker discovered the body at about 4:15 p.m. floating between a dock and a boat.

“It’s tragic. We were going to try to save a person and we very likely killed Rupert,” Harbor Patrol Sgt. David Ginther said.

The durable swan has survived a lot over the years, including a near-fatal dose of pollution a couple of years ago.

An animal control officer rescued Rupert in October 2004 after seeing the bird wandering weak and disoriented along Bayside Drive. He likely came down with a bacterial infection and it was speculated that it may have come after a storm pushed pollution into the bay. He was then thought to be at least 16 years old. Swans in captivity can live 25 to 30 years.

For a gallery of pictures of Rupert: https://dailypilot.com/shared-content/gallery/