Kayakers Find Body Along Santa Ynez River

Santa Barbara Sheriff’s dispatchers received a call yesterday morning from two men who said they had discovered a man’s dead body along the Santa Ynez River. The two, reported department spokesperson Drew Sugars, were kayaking on the river when they spotted the body on the north side of the waterway near the Refugio Bridge crossing.

Sugars said it appeared the man had been deceased for several weeks.

Members of the Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue Team (SAR) were called in to retrieve the body as it was located in rough terrain, more than a mile from the nearest road.

Sugars said that, at this point in the investigation, there is nothing to suggest the man was the victim of foul play. Sheriff’s detectives and the Coroner’s Bureau are working to determine the man’s identity and cause of death.