Body Found by Man and Son While Fishing at Todd Point/Bayview Drive in Fort Bragg
A tourist from Lake County who was hiking with his son found the body of a man below the cliffs between Hare Creek Beach and Todd Point. Josh Brown said he and his son discovered the body and called authorities, who confirmed the incident was a fatality. Brown also noted that the Jeep at the scene had Oklahoma plates. On Saturday after noon, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department revealed that the man was 37 years old and from Yukon, Oklahoma. He apparently fell in the middle of the night, early Saturday morning.
The vehicle did not go over the edge of a cliff area just past the end of Bayview Drive on Todd Point, Brown said. It was parked near the drop‑off and had to be towed because its position was close to where fire personnel needed to descend for the recovery operation. We are not absolutely positive the Jeep belonged to the man, but everybody thinks so. (the county has now confirmed it did belong to the deceased man).
The drop‑off is only inches from the passenger side when a vehicle pulls in. It’s one of several reasons we do not drive past the end of the pavement at this location.
“I think he might have thought there was more room at the edge, got out, and walked around to the passenger side of his door. I believe that’s when he fell. He probably knocked himself unconscious, and if the tide was high, that might have been enough to kill him,” Brown told Mendocinocoast. news
We still have no official information from the police. Brown said investigators are still working to understand the circumstances and have been thorough in their response.
“I’m here with my family. My son and I got up this morning and went down to the rocks to fish. I wouldn’t really call it a vacation — we just come to Fort Bragg a lot.
The crazy part is we just moved back home to Lake County from Oklahoma, and if that Jeep was his, he’s from Oklahoma too. The plates were from Oklahoma. It was just… a weird, sad coincidence.
The neighbors two houses down said they were here on vacation at an Airbnb and saw that Jeep pull in during the middle of the night. My son and I had been fishing there for a while when the neighbors walked down. That made me turn around and look up the hill, and that’s when I realized the shape I’d seen on the shore — the one I thought was a seal — wasn’t a seal.
My son, he’s 13, walked up to see what it was. He looked back at me with this scared, blank look and said it was a man,” Brown said.
Brown made the discovery this morning (Saturday, April 11). Early indications suggest the man may have driven past the end of Bayview Drive and then gotten out of his vehicle in the dark. The Jeep did not go all the way to the bottom; it had to be removed before the body could be recovered. It’s unclear whether he parked intentionally or became stuck — though getting stuck seems unlikely for a Jeep — but the drop‑off is extremely close to the road, and in darkness a misstep could be fatal. Authorities are expected to release more details, and we will evaluate what is appropriate to report once that information is available.
While a guardrail would not have prevented this particular incident, the wide open end to Bayview is a safety concern. This tragedy should prompt a review of whether additional barriers or other safety measures are needed along this stretch of coastline.
This is one of Fort Bragg’s quietest, most meditative spots. Linda often comes here to park, breathe, and just be. When nephew Joel visited, he spent nearly 12 hours on these rocks filming, pulled in by the strange, steady call of the place.
Today’s tragedy unfolded on a morning when local Native American groups were holding ceremonies to welcome the whales — a day meant for blessing, not loss.
We share photos of this spot at the end of the story, a place that is usually one of the most restful corners of the coast.
This stretch of coastline is one of our favorite places to walk the dogs on Hare Creek Beach nearby. The cliffs at this spot are precarious and badly eroded. I have actually never been down to the channel below because of the potential to cause serious erosion. Today, we saw the neighbors are asking everyone to stay off for that reason. Unfortunately, iceplant has colonized it. This makes it SEEM like erosion is being prevented but it actually accomplishes more of the opposite. I’ve always thought someone could go off that edge in the dark — not that we know whether that’s what happened here — but the possibility has lingered. We were told the person who died is not from the area. The spot isn’t easy to find; you have to weave through the side roads around Todd Point to reach it.
The location has raised safety concerns before. It seems like guardrails should surround the area. Not long ago, someone smashed through the guardrail at the end of Ocean View Drive with incredible force. We never learned who was involved or whether they were seriously injured. Incidents like these have left many wondering whether stronger barriers or clearer warnings are needed along this part of the coast.
It’s hard to square a death with a place so many of us know as peaceful — a spot where dogs chase the wind, where Hare Creek curves into the sea, where the light hits the headlands just right. But anyone who’s walked these cliffs in the dark has felt that edge, the way a wrong turn could send a car where no road goes. We don’t yet know what happened here, only that a life ended and the person was not from this area.
These incidents keep stacking up, and the coastline keeps reminding us how unforgiving it can be.
Authorities have not yet released details, and next of kin notifications are still pending. We will update this story as soon as official information becomes available–if appropriate and depending on the circumstances. More news as received.
Editor’s Note- the cliff is not 70 feet high as the press release says and as everybody has been saying. Its not.. The distance to the water is 35-45 feet there. We will go back with a tape measure and drop one end down after this is over. These heights are exaggerated by everyone and I got my ears boxed for doing that once, never again.. When I was working at the Advocate News in 2005, famed Pixar animator Joe Ranft died on August 16, 2005 when his car went off State Route 128 and plunged into the Navarro River. I reported what the CHP press release said, that the car fell 90 feet. An Advocate News reader chewed me out and challenged me to come to the crash site. When I did, we measured, it was less than 50 feet where he went off. The Wikipedia version of his death now says he fell 130 feet.
On 04/11/2026 at approximately 08:30 A.M., Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Deputies were dispatched to reports of a body being located at the bottom of a cliff near the 31000 block of Bay View Avenue in Fort Bragg, CA.
Sheriff’s Deputies were assisted by Fort Bragg Fire Department personnel to recover the remains of an adult male from the rocks near the waterline at the bottom of a steep cliff. The decedent was recovered from approximately 70 feet down a cliff along the Pacific Ocean and had injuries consistent with a significant fall.
The coroner’s investigation has not revealed any suspicious circumstances at the scene and criminal conduct is not suspected at this stage of the investigation. The decedent’s vehicle was located near the cliff and was secured as coroner’s property.
The decedent was identified as a 37-year-old male from Yukon, Oklahoma, but the decedent’s name is being withheld pending the identification and notification of the legal next-of-kin. The official cause and manner of death will be determined after an autopsy is performed.
This coroner’s case is still actively being investigated. Anyone with information related to this incident is requested to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office at 707-463-4086 (option 1). Information can also be provided anonymously by calling the non-emergency tip-line at 707-234-2100.
