Why did a Florida Keys boat end up in Cuba? And where is a missing man? It’s a mystery

Where is Jay Hegeman? And why did his boat end up in Cuba?

For now, the whereabouts of the 74-year-old Florida Keys man remain a mystery. Police are investigating his disappearance and how his empty rental boat ended up where it did.

The boater’s brother is desperately searching for answers and is growing more frustrated by the day as he awaits word about his sibling or any information on what may have happened to him.

“This whole story doesn’t make sense,” Gary Hegeman, 68, said in a phone interview from Rhode Island. “There are still so many unanswered questions about the boat.”

Cuban Border Guard officials told the U.S. Coast Guard that the 20-foot center console boat with a 115-horsepower Yamaha outboard engine he rented Thursday morning was found Friday near the coast of Matanzas, on Cuba’s northern coast, according to a missing persons report filed by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

Hegeman wasn’t on it.

The Coast Guard announced its search for Hegeman Friday afternoon, but a day later said it was calling off the operation “pending new information.” The Coast Guard referred questions about the boat turning up in Cuba to that country’s embassy, which did not respond to the Miami Herald’s inquiries.

Hegeman has no family in the Florida Keys, but he had lots of friends along the island chain, said his boss, Bernardo Careaga, dock master at Whale Harbor Marina, a Windley Key landmark where the missing man worked as an assistant dock master for about eight years.

“He’s a good man,” Careaga told the Miami Herald/FLKeysnews.com. “Hard working. Reliable. Honest.”

The sheriff’s office began its investigation Friday at Snake Creek Marina, where Hegeman rented the boat, according to an agency report provided to the Herald.

Sgt. Patricia O’Keefe said that the owner of Reef Marine, the rental company, told her Hegeman had rented the vessel around 10 a.m. and was due back at 5 p.m.

The company reported him overdue after the owner checked nearby businesses, including restaurants and bars, for any signs of him. The Coast Guard launched an air and sea search around 10 p.m. Thursday, the agency said.

O’Keefe then called Gary Hegeman. He said his brother had been depressed due to credit card debt, but there’s no indication he intended to die by suicide. Jay Hegeman owned guns, but all of the firearms he had were found on the boat he lived on that’s docked at Coral Bay Marina in Upper Matecumbe Key, O’Keefe wrote in her report.

Hegeman has been married several times but has no children, according to O’Keefe’s report.

The manager at the marina told police that Hegeman rented the center console to scout mooring sites offshore where he’d keep his liveaboard boat before taking it out of the water to be worked on so he could get it insured.

Careaga, the marina dockmaster, said there were no signs in the days before Jay Hegeman disappeared that anything was wrong , and he was scheduled to work Thursday night. But Hegeman’s boss said he knew something was wrong when he didn’t show up to work. His employee rarely missed a shift.

“It’s very unusual,” Careaga said. “He is very responsible. If he’s ever running late because of traffic or something, he calls.”

Another sheriff’s office deputy, Nelson Sanchez, joined the investigation and obtained security camera footage from the Island Grill restaurant near Snake Creek. The video shows Hegeman driving the boat out of the channel, turning right and heading out to the ocean “where it is never seen again,” Sanchez wrote.

Although the boat was found by Cuban authorities, specific information about the vessel from the communist country has been slow to be released to law enforcement in the Florida Keys.

“At this point, it is unknown what condition the boat was in (in gear, out of gas, etc) how far away (or beached)/docked on land) it was located, or if any personal items were located on the vessel,” O’Keefe wrote in her report.

Gary Hegeman said he’s frustrated by the lack of communication between the Cuban government and the sheriff’s office because he believes someone may have harmed his brother and the boat “could possibly be a crime scene.”

Adam Linhardt, spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said the matter is an ongoing investigation.

Although the Coast Guard has called off the search for Jay Hegeman, it is still asking anyone with information about his possible whereabouts to call Sector Key West at 305-292-8727.

Th missing man’s brother said he’s made several phone calls to the Cuban embassy “to no avail.”

Said Gary Hegeman: “We can’t get any answers from the Cuban authorities about that boat.”