911 caller reported that person entered Gulf at Beach Access 5 and had not shown back up on beach nearly an hour later
A swimmer who reportedly disappeared on Siesta Key this week after entering the Gulf was located the following day, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office has reported.
The individual — 23-year-old Ethan Christian McNary of Sarasota — was identified in a Sheriff’s Office report as “mentally ill.” The document adds that he had been hospitalized.
Shortly before 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 2, a person called 911 to alert the Sheriff’s Office and the Sarasota County Fire Department that the person had “witnessed an individual walk from the parking lot [for Beach Access 5] to the water line” and “give a middle finger to the water” before heading out into the Gulf, the Fire Department report says.
Beach Access 5 is located at 200 Beach Road, at the intersection of Ocean Boulevard and Beach Road, near the Terrace condominium complex.
The caller pointed out that the individual “never returned to shore,” noting that she had called 911 “nearly an hour after the subject entered the water,” the report continues.
When Sheriff’s Office and Fire Department personnel arrived at Access 5, the report says, they did not find “concerned bystanders … in the area.” However, a pair of shoes, a dark shirt and a cell phone were located “on the shore” near the spot where the individual was said to have entered the water, the report notes.
Sheriff’s Office deputies were “able to develop a possible identification of the subject,” it adds.
A Fire Department boat “performed three complete search patterns,” while a Sheriff’s Office watercraft handled “another complete pattern,” the report continues. The Sheriff’s Office Air 1 helicopter assisted with the search “for some period of time,” the report adds.
Coast Guard personnel also arrived on the scene, it continues, to help with the search.
The Coast Guard members were from Air Station Clearwater, the Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
Ultimately, given the hour and lack of natural light, the report indicates, Fire Department and Sheriff’s Office personnel both suspended their efforts to locate the swimmer, with only Coast Guard members remaining on the scene.
The last of the Fire Department units that had been dispatched to the beach cleared the area about 11 p.m. on June 2, the report shows. Those were the crews of Engine 13, Rescue 3 and firefighters using a Station 13 utility vehicle, the report says.
Fire Station 13 is located just south of the public beach on the Key, while Fire Station 3 stands at 47 N. Adams Drive in Sarasota, the Fire Department’s webpages note.
A Sheriff’s Office Facebook post pointed out that the Venice Police Department and the Sarasota Police Department also had assisted in the search.
The Fire Department report adds that its personnel had planned to resume their search the following morning, “with the assistance of sunlight.”
The next morning, however, the Sheriff’s Office announced in a post on its Facebook page that “23-year-old Ethan McNary, the subject of the missing person search off Siesta Key Beach, has been located and is safe.”
The post noted that he was found “early Wednesday afternoon near the intersection of Beneva Road and Clark Road.”
The Sheriff’s Office deputy who wrote that report about McNary explained, “Based on my training and experience, the subject [meets] criteria for protective custody under the Baker Act. The subject was transported to [Sarasota Memorial Hospital] for treatment.”
That report added that McNary advised officers that “he did not want next of kin notified.”
The Sarasota News Leader did learn that, in December 2023, McNary was arrested in Collier County after he was stopped on Interstate 75 for driving without headlights in rainy and foggy conditions. The Florida Highway Patrol trooper who conducted the traffic stop learned that McNary had been cited in September 2023 in Manatee County for driving while McNary’s license was suspended or revoked, the arrest report said.