Human remains that washed ashore on a beach near Corpus Christi last Thursday have been positively identified as that of an East Montgomery County man who went missing May 17 after an ill-fated family fishing trip.
Bobby Alexander, 38,of Splendora was fishing with his two sons about 15 miles off Port O’Connor when the boat began taking on water and capsized near an offshore oil rig. Workers on the rig were able to rescue Alexander’s sons, 13-year-old Dominic and 17-year-old Zach, but when they dropped a “life ring” down to the water’s surface for Alexander, he was nowhere in sight. The rig workers reported the event to the Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi around 10:30 p.m.
An hour earlier, wife and mother Alexa Alexander contacted the Coast Guard Station at Port O’Connor after becoming concerned that her family had not arrived home or contacted her. Around 10 p.m., the Matagorda County Sheriff’s Office reported finding the pickup and the trailer used to haul the 19-foot boat at Matagorda Harbor.
When the pieces came together a short time later, Coast Guard officials reunited Dominic and Zach Alexander with their mother as the desperate search for Bobby Ale xander continued.
The US Coast Guard spent 47 hours searching for Alexander using a 41-foot Coast Guard boat, a rescue helicopter, an 87-foot patrol boat, a cutter, and a jet. When their search was suspended, Texas EquuSearch took over with volunteers searching the water and its banks. They too were unsuccessful.
Human remains were discovered on the Padre Island National Seashore on May 21 and the Nueces County Medical Examiner’s Office used dental and medical records to make identification.
On Tuesday, Kleberg County authorities confirmed that the forensic examination positively identified the deceased as Bobby Alexander.
