Fisherman’s Family Sues Navy in Mysterious Death

The family of a San Diego fisherman who drowned last winter under mysterious circumstances off San Clemente Island filed a $10.8-million lawsuit Friday against the Navy, contending the man died after stray Navy explosives struck his boat.

The suit, filed in federal court in San Diego, alleged that Boyd Reber of San Diego and crewman Frank Germano of Ventura died Feb. 25 in an explosion of either a missile or live ordnance fired by sailors in target practice off San Clemente Island.

The lawsuit accuses the Navy of negligence by failing to warn the fishermen of danger and in allowing explosives to strike their boat. It seeks damages of more than $10.8 million, covering the cost of the boat and the loss suffered by Reber’s wife and 3-year-old child.

“All the evidence points to a very strong likelihood that it was Navy artillery (that caused the deaths),� said Michael McCann, the lawyer for Reber’s wife, Cynthia, on Friday. “Yet the Coast Guard and Navy show no interest in pursuing the case.�

Navy officials have declined to comment on McCann’s allegations since he informed them in April that he would file suit. On Friday, Ruth C. Lawrence, a Navy spokeswoman in San Diego, said she could not discuss the case because it is under Navy investigation and in litigation.

Similarly, Coast Guard Lt. Robert Murray said he could not discuss the investigation he is conducting. He suggested a report might be completed in four weeks.

Murray, however, said in an interview in April that much of the evidence he had seen argued against an explosion. For example, he said there were no burn marks or signs of fire on the boat fragments and most of the boat was found on the beach.

“It’s believed that the vessel in large part was washed up on the beach and was demolished by the surf,� he said in April. “There is some suspicion that the initial cause of the accident was an explosion. However, there is no substantial evidence to support that theory.�

The Navy uses the southern portion of San Clemente Island for target practice as a “shore bombardment range.�

Reber, 38, and Germano, 21, were last seen Feb. 21, when they set out from San Pedro in Reber’s 36-foot, fiber glass fishing boat, the Cindy Faye. They headed west to the north side of San Clemente Island to net soup-fin shark off Mail Point, a popular fishing area.

Ten days later, a fisherman working the area spotted Reber’s body floating about 22 yards offshore. The following day, a San Clemente Island goat herder in a helicopter caught sight of Germano’s body lying on the rocky shore.

An autopsy by the San Diego County coroner’s office concluded that Germano died of lacerations to his lungs and liver--a finding that some friends attribute to shrapnel. However, Murray said X-rays found no shrapnel in Germano’s body.

An autopsy on Reber traced his death to drowning. He also had head injuries, a superficial cut in the liver and salt water in his lungs.

Several fishermen who were friends of Reber have mounted their own informal investigation. They say they salvaged unused fishermen’s survival suits pocked with small holes, anchors found 300 yards offshore and heavy pieces of steel bent at bizarre angles.

McCann said Friday that an explosives expert he hired to analyze the metal parts “corroborated our theory. . . . He concludes specifically that it was an explosion. Obviously, he cannot say what caused the explosion.�

The government has 60 days to file an initial response to the lawsuit, said McCann.