Mother dies, 7-year-old son missing at Moss Landing
MONTEREY COUNTY — The U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday suspended the search for a 7-year-old boy whose mother was found dead in the water off Monterey County.
The search at unincorporated Moss Landing, about a 2 1/2-hour drive south from San Francisco, began at around 8 p.m. Wednesday after a passerby found a 3-year-old boy alone on the beach, the Coast Guard said.
The boy said that his mother and brother were missing, authorities said.
Coast Guard Sector San Francisco deployed a 47-foot Motor Lifeboat boat crew and a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter to assist in the search.
The woman was found in the water near the Moss Landing Harbor and pronounced dead at a hospital. Her family identified her as Florencia Ramirez, 27, of Salinas and the missing boy as Edgar Espinoza, KION-TV reported.
It wasn't immediately clear what led up to the mother's death and the boy's disappearance.
Florencia's mother told KION-TV that her daughter had called to say she was at the beach with her children and nothing seemed unusual at the time.
The air and sea search by the Coast Guard and other agencies spanned 11 1/2 hours and covered more than 6 square miles (15.5 square kilometers) without finding the boy, the Coast Guard said.714
