missing Lomax couple Bill and Martha Harris(BODIES FOUND)

[bleachedblack]

June 17, 2007, 6:41PM
Coast Guard seeks missing Lomax couple

Authorities are searching Galveston Bay for a Lomax couple after their fishing boat was found on the shore with the motor still running.

"We received a call around 1 p.m. of a boat with no one aboard and engines still running at Red Bluff Beach near Kemah,'' said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Mark Molavi.

Several items of clothing, shoes and life jackets were found on the boat.

Texas EquuSearch spokeswoman Cheryl Lawless  identified the missing couple as Bill and Martha Harris, ages 46 and 56.  The couple put their son's 22-foot Triton boat in the water this morning at the Kemah bridge and planned to spend the day fishing at Atkinson Island.

The owner of the boat, Doug Spinks, told Texas EquuSearch volunteers that the couple were not likely wearing life jackets since all three kept on the boat were accounted for.        

The U.S. Coast Guard and local agencies will continue to search for the couple.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4897226.html

[bleachedblack]

 June 18, 2007, 11:23AM
Body found in search for missing Lomax couple




The body of a woman was found Sunday night and the search for her husband continued after the couple's fishing boat was found on the shore with the motor still running Sunday afternoon.

Searchers with Texas Parks and Wildlife found the body about 8:30 p.m. in the Clear Lake channel, said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Mark Molavi.

The Coast Guard reported this morning that a Chambers County official positively identified the body as that of Martha Harris, 56, of Lomax in the Pasadena area. A Coast Guard spokesman said Harris' driver's license was found on the body.

Harris and her husband Bill, 46, put their son's 22-foot Triton boat in the water Sunday morning at the Kemah bridge and planned to spend the day fishing at Atkinson Island.

"We received a call around 1 p.m. of a boat with no one aboard and engines still running at Red Bluff Beach near Kemah," said Molavi.

Several items of clothing, shoes and life jackets were found on the boat.

"Obviously we are heartbroken. This is a very tight-knit family. Bill and Martha had only been married for about three years and were so in love," Wisdom said.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter searched through the night and other agencies will continue the search today.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/meo/4897536.html

[Sleeks]

Oh my suspicious mind.  My first thought - where is he?  Then next thought, only married 3 years.  I hope those who said, "they were so in love" are completely correct.

In any event - this is really tragic!!!  Thank God they are still searching.

[bleachedblack]

Oh my suspicious mind.  My first thought - where is he?  Then next thought, only married 3 years.  I hope those who said, "they were so in love" are completely correct.

In any event - this is really tragic!!!  Thank God they are still searching.

I hear ya Sleeks , my mind starts to have suspicious thoughts to, but in this case hope it just to early.......

[bleachedblack]

June 19, 2007, 7:57PM
Body of 2nd missing boater found
Two days after crews locate his wife's corpse near Seabrook, husband is pulled from water

The family of Bill and Martha Harris agonized while crews searched for their bodies in Galveston Bay.

Tuesday, the family was left with planning their funerals.

A crew aboard a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter spotted the body of Bill Harris, 46, about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. He was found a couple miles from Seabrook and in the vicinity where search crews found his wife's body on Sunday evening.

Bill and Martha Harris, 56, were reported missing Sunday when their boat was spotted going in circles that afternoon with no one in it. The boat ran aground at Red Bluff Beach near Kemah, authorities said.

The Harrises had borrowed her son's 22-foot Triton boat and planned to spend Sunday fishing at Atkinson Island.

"It's been pretty rough on the family," said Cheryl Lawless, of Texas EquuSearch. "First they were missing, and now they have to plan a double funeral."

Funeral arrangements are pending.

The news has been especially hard on Martha Harris' son, Doug Spinks, Lawless said. The 36-year-old chemical plant employee was one of many Texas EquuSearch volunteers who fanned across Galveston Bay looking for the couple.

Spinks became a Texas EquuSearch volunteer about a year ago, using his fishing boat — the same one the Harrises were using Sunday — to comb waterways for missing people.

Search volunteers persuaded Spinks to go home on Monday.

Officials with the Chambers County Sheriff's Office, who are investigating, did not return calls on Tuesday.

Cindy Wisdom, of Texas EquuSearch, theorized that the couple had been chased by a storm and their anchor fell overboard. The anchor then possibly snagged something, making the boat jerk and tossing the couple into the water, she said. They were not wearing life jackets.

The Harrises married in 2004 and lived in La Porte.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4903976.html

[Sleeks]

Oh well this is truly sad - however, I am glad it was not a case of him bumping her off.  

I pray for that family.