Body found floating near Vashon Island identified

VASHON ISLAND, Wash. -- The King County Medical Examiner's Office on Friday identified the man found floating near Vashon Island Wednesday as Jonathon King, 58, of Vason.

King drowned, the office said, and the manner of his death was suicide.

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The U.S. Coast Guard said it found the body of a man floating in the Puget Sound near Vashon Island Wednesday morning, after they had earlier found an empty boat adrift east of the island.

The Coast Guard said it found a small, aluminum boat adrift in the Puget Sound at about 8 a.m. There was only a cell phone and life jacket in the boat.

The Coast Guard crew called a contact on the phone and learned the phone belonged to a man living on Vashon Island. King County sheriff's deputies went to the home , but no one was there.

About two hours later, a Coast Guard helicopter spotted a body floating in the water just east of Vashon Island, and the body was retrieved.

The body is believed to be that of a 59-year-old Vashon resident, the Coast Guard said.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office will officially identify the man and determine cause and manner of death.