A Fort Myers seashore man referred to as the “Pirates of the Seashore” was remembered as a hero when he fled again to his flooded Southeast Florida dwelling to rescue his girlfriend and canine from Hurricane Ian .
Damon Utterback, 54, died after serving to shield his girlfriend and their Yorkshire combine, Peanuts. Each survived the storm.
Utterbach, who labored as a mechanical engineer, was well-known for his well-known pirate outfits and his likeness to Johnny Depp’s character, Jack Sparrow from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie collection. his buddy, Michael Yost, who’s now grieving lack of two matesStated Utterback could be missed.
“We now have fairly a couple of pirates,” Yost stated. “However that was the true factor.”
Yost stated that Utterback typically obtained his pirate costume at public sale and had a number of key objects from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, together with a hoop, sword and sash depp used within the motion pictures. He stated Utterback just lately paid $500 for a brand new pair of sneakers to finish the outfit.
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Utterback was referred to as “Captain Jack” as a result of when he wore the costume, he seemed just like the character Jack Sparrow, Yoast stated, including that they’d each gown up.
Yost stated that if he was doing one thing on the seashore, it was both together with his girlfriend, Utterback, or Mitch Sweat, referred to as the “Mayor of Fort Myers Seashore”, who additionally died through the storm,
“It was simply an enormous loss to that neighborhood,” stated “It is a clean, empty area in that neighborhood proper now.”
‘I could not catch him’
Yoast remained on the island through the storm and stated that when he noticed the place the water was from his home, a number of blocks away from Utterbach, he grew to become involved.
“I could not maintain him,” stated Yost. “That was the second I believed, ‘Oh my god.'”
Yost then started to suppose that nobody might be alive beneath the place he stood, he stated. The subsequent morning, when he went to see, he discovered his buddy’s physique hanging from the window.
in accordance with Florida Medical Examiner’s DataThrough the storm the Utterback tried to exit a window and was trapped.
After that encounter, Yost stated that he ran and each Pasina’s spouse and Utterbach’s girlfriend and canine survived the storm.
Yost stated that Utterbach’s girlfriend deliberate to bury him in his pirate costume.
Belinda Haddock, who runs Skeleton Crew Leisure Group on the Fort Myers Seashore Pirate Competition and has frolicked with Utterback previously, stated she was shocked when she realized of his dying.
“Damon was a beloved a part of the pirate neighborhood,” Haddock stated.
Tomas Rodriguez is a breaking/reside information reporter for the Naples Day by day Information and The Information-Press, a part of the USA At this time Community.