Monterey County Sheriff’s Office identifies body found in water in Big Sur
UPDATE 8/29/2019 12:40 p.m. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office identified the body pulled from the water in Big Sur on Wednesday as 37-year-old Kristen Marlena Kendall from Capitola.
Kendall was reported missing after her car went off a cliff on Saturday and she was not found.
The Sheriff’s Office searched the area for three days, but on Wednesday a nearby resident said she saw a body in the water.
Kendall’s body was found nearly 300 hundred yards north of where her car crashed.
UPDATE 8/28/2019 1:50 p.m. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team recovered a body from the water in Big Sur, Wednesday.
Divers believe it to be 37-year-old Kristen Kendall from Capitola. Kendall was reported missing, Saturday. Kendall’s car was found off a cliff, one mile south of Esalen Institute.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office searched for three days before a nearby resident claimed to have seen a body in the water. “She had been out there this morning looking with binoculars. She spotted something that she wanted us to confirm. We went out with a drone and confirmed it was a body,” said Monterey County Sheriff’s Office diver, Fernando White.
White said the body was found nearly 300 hundred yards north of where Kendall’s car crashed.
A California Highway Patrol helicopter flew the body from a nearby beach to the top of a cliff near Highway One.
Officials said the identity of the body has not yet been confirmed by the coroner. The coroner will notify family once an official identification has been made.
PREVIOUS STORY: The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office confirms that 37-year-old Kristen Kendall of Santa Cruz is missing after a car crash on Highway 1.
Kendall’s car went over a cliff on the road, but investigators were not able to find the driver.
“Monterey County Search and Rescue searched for many hours the night that it happened and the next morning for several hours,” said Officer Justin Roberts, a California Highway Patrol trooper. “(They were) unable to locate any bodies on the hillside.”
Roberts said Kendall was the registered owner of the car. The Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident.
