Did a police boat fatally strike a snorkeler in the Keys? Inquiry launched to find out

Investigators have launched an inquiry into whether a Florida fish and wildlife police boat struck and killed a Port Orange snorkeler in the Florida Keys last week.

Details into the July 25 death of Devin Michael James Ordway, 27, were not released, but the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission turned over its investigation to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. That’s because one of the state agency’s boats was in the area where the snorkeler’s body was found that day.

“Due to the FWC vessel in proximity at the time and location the accident may have occurred, the FWC has requested that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conduct an independent investigation of the incident to ensure complete transparency. This is an active and ongoing boating accident investigation,” FWC spokesman Rob Klepper said in a statement.

Gretl Plessinger, an FDLE spokeswoman, declined to comment on the investigation.

“At the request of the FWC, we are conducting an investigation. As it is an active case, we don’t have any further information to provide at this time,” Plessinger said.

The Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Ordway’s identity Monday. The release of his autopsy is pending toxicology results, but Klepper said “preliminary information indicates head trauma from a possible vessel strike.”

Ordway was snorkeling on the Gulf side of Key Haven outside of Key West when the tragedy occurred.

His family could not immediately be reached for comment Monday, but social media posts suggest he was a U.S. Navy veteran and an avid water enthusiast who frequently visited the Keys for fishing, spearfishing and snorkeling excursions.

He was also a soon-to-be dad, according to a Facebook post by his girlfriend.

“We’re having a boy my love, a little you. Devin Michael James Ordway jr in honor of his daddy. I hope he’s just like you in every single way, you were the best person in the world. We need you baby, please help me though this,” Michelle Demers, also from Port Orange, wrote the day after his death.

Ordway died two days before the busy two-day lobster miniseason, and the incident was one of four fatalities on Florida Keys waters last week.

Kale Dailey, 53, of Englewood, Florida, died after being removed from the water during a snorkel trip in the Lower Keys Tuesday, July 26, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. He was snorkeling in Sawyer Channel with a group when he said he wasn’t feeling well. He was helped into the boat and taken by state wildlife officers to Blimp Road on Cudjoe Key, where he died.

On Wednesday, July 27, the first day of miniseason — a massive spiny lobster hunt that sees thousands of people snorkeling, diving and netting off the Keys — Boyd Eastham Nelson, 51, of Tampa, died after losing consciousness in the water near Bluefish Channel off Key West.

Leon Dietz, 64, of Garland, Texas, also died Wednesday afternoon after collapsing in a boat just north of Mile Marker 3, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.