CHRISTIANSTED — A Buccaneer Hotel employee discovered the body of a 24-year-old man — missing since Friday — washed up on Shoys Beach about noon on Sunday.
Jovere Williams, an employee of the Buccaneer Resort, apparently went for his customary swim on his break on Friday, but he did not return.
“I have been crying, however, for my nephew Jovere Williams, who apparently went to the beach in St Croix on Friday and has not been accounted for since,” a relative said on Facebook. “Please continue to uphold us in your prayers.”
Family members and search and rescue team from the Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD), St. Croix Rescue, the National Park Service and the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) have been looking for Williams since he went missing.
Search crews scoured the beach where he went missing for several hours on Friday to no avail, according to Jason Henry, the commander of St. Croix Rescue’s Marine Unit.
Henry said that crews also searched for Williams on Saturday, but the intensive search was called off due to poor visibility caused by inclement weather.
Two people — a family member and an employee discovered — Williams’ body on the beach on Sunday about 11:44 a.m.
Williams, of Enfield Green, worked as a carpenter at the Buccaneer Hotel. He is suspected to have drowned to death.
It was not known if the V.I. Division of Occupational Safety and Health (VIDOSH) or the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is involved in the labor matter.
VIDOSH is administered by the Virgin Islands Department of Labor (VIDOL) under Commissioner Catherine Hendry.
