Coast Guard IDs 3rd victim in deadly sailboat disaster

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. (AP) - Authorities on Wednesday identified the third person killed when a powerful storm struck a sailboat race off the Alabama coast and said they will search one more day for three boaters who remained missing.

The body of William Glenn Massey, 67, of Daphne was found near a gas platform in Mobile Bay, the Coast Guard said. An angler spotted the body Tuesday and notified officials.

Massey, who lived in his sailboat in a marina on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, was the third person confirmed dead since the boating disaster happened Saturday afternoon. His Facebook page featured of photo of him at the helm of a sailboat.

The other victims were Kris Beall, 27, of Pineville, Louisiana, and Robert Delaney, 72, of Madison, Mississippi.

Searchers have covered more than 6,500 square miles of water looking for possible survivors and victims, and volunteers walked shorelines looking for any signs of the missing.

Capt. Duke Walker, commander of the Coast Guard in Mobile, said the search would continue through sunset Thursday, but crews will go back to normal duties afterward.

Searchers have combed the surface of Mobile Bay, dove to sunken boats and flown 20 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico looking for signs of life, he said.

"You're looking in a very large area for a very small target, so it makes it challenging," said Walker.

The families of two of the boaters who are still missing held a news conference Tuesday at Dauphin Island to thank emergency responders and others. They identified the missing as Adam Clark, 17, of Mobile and Jimmie Charles "J.C." Brown, 71.

Clark's mother, Angie Tew, choked up when discussing his plan to be a software engineer someday.

"Adam is an amazing kid who loves his brother and his sister so much," she said.

Brown's stepdaughter Jennifer Hoffman thanked sailors who helped save people when the storm hit Saturday afternoon during the Dauphin Island Regatta.

In Louisiana, Amanda Allbritton Beall said a funeral will be held Friday for her husband, Kris, who was working hard to build his construction business.

"He had unending energy," she said. "I don't know where all his energy came from. He never stopped. I mean, he always made the most of every day. He was not a sitter. It drove him crazy just to sit."