Search for Owner Suspended After Unmanned Boat Found Drifting Off Wildwood

The Coast Guard suspended its search at about 10 p.m. Tuesday for a missing boater whose boat was discovered unmanned and adrift approximately one mile east of Wildwood on Monday.

Missing is Jason Sill, 39, of Cape May Court House.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay received notification from a good Samaritan who reported the unmanned and adrift 23-foot navy blue pleasure craft.

Assisting in the search were:

• Boat crews from Coast Guard Station Cape May
• The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Mako, an 87-foot patrol boat homeported in Cape May
• MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crews Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City 

The Press of Atlantic City reports that Sill is a Middle Township police officer.

According to the Coast Guard, the boat's owner was last seen around 11 a.m. exiting Pier 47 Marina in Wildwood.

A Coast Guard Station Cape May boat crew arrived on scene with the boat and discovered the keys still in the ignition with the engine in the down position with the throttle forward. Fishing poles were also discovered on the boat.

It is not known if the boater was wearing a life jacket.

Anyone with information regarding the boater's whereabouts is asked to contact the Coast Guard at 215-271-4940.

— News release from the U.S. Coast Guard