Neighbor taking down Christmas lights spots missing man’s body in pond, Florida cops say
.png "A man reported missing by family was found dead days later in a retention pond in Naples, Florida, officials say.")
The search for a missing Florida man is over after a neighbor spotted his body floating in a retention pond, officials said.
Bradley Sugar, 48, was reported missing Jan. 7 and was found dead Sunday, Jan. 12, according to an incident report from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.
Sugar’s mother reported him missing shortly after she received a “frantic call” from him, deputies said. He “sounded out of breath” and was difficult to understand due to the state he was in, but he said he was out of medication, she told deputies, authorities reported.
Later that day, deputies went to his house and it was in disarray, deputies said. They searched for Sugar but were unable to locate him.
Then, five days later, deputies say a neighbor was taking down Christmas lights when she saw something floating in a retention pond. It was Sugar, deputies said.
A software engineer with a degree from Nova Southeastern University, Sugar moved to Naples during the pandemic, his mother, Andrea Sugar, told WBBH.
“We’re in a state of shock, everybody is. It’s very macabre to think of what he went through, thinking he was missing and realizing he’s been in the water for five days,” she said. “So we are devastated, and I don’t think we’ve fully realized it yet.”
Naples is a roughly 110-mile drive west from Miami.