Terrifying sea mystery that has haunted California fishermen for 26 years is solved after human BONE washes ashore

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 11:09 EDT, 20 September 2026 | Updated: 11:15 EDT, 20 September 2026 Sailors aboard the Silver Spray recalled watching helplessly as Jonathan Raxa vanished into the sea after an 18-foot wave ripped the pilothouse from his commercial fishing boat off the California coast in 1999.More than 26 years after his horrified crew shared their story of survival, a pelvic bone found on a Northern California beach has finally revealed the fate of Raxa. The remains were discovered on Centerville Beach in Northern California in March and reported to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office.Deputies recovered the bone and identified it as a human sacrum before sending it to the California Department of Justice for DNA analysis.The resulting profile matched family DNA associated with Raxa, the sheriff’s office announced last Wednesday.Raxa, who was 37 and a father of three when he disappeared, was a devout Christian and fisherman who had been saving for an evangelical trip to his ancestral home of Laos, The Los Angeles Times reported in 2000.He and three other crew members sailed aboard the Silver Spray on December 14, 1999, when an 18-foot wave struck near the mouth of Humboldt Bay and snapped the pilothouse clean off the main hull, according to KTLA.‘I had a good feeling I was going to die,’ skipper Al Burns later told the Los Angeles Times. A pelvic bone washed up on a Northern California beach was confirmed to belong to Jonathan Raxa, a fisherman who mysteriously disappeared more than 26 years ago Jonathan Raxa's remains were found on Centerville Beach, approximately 15 miles South of where the Silver Sprayer sank almost 30 years agoBurns claimed he watched his crew members get swallowed by the water as the 35-foot boat sank. A second wave washed Burns away, and he came up to the surface a hundred yards away. He grabbed onto a buoyant five-gallon oil can, and was dragged onto a raft by the other two crew members shortly after.Raxa was never seen again, until the bone retrieved off Centerville beach washed up on the shore this past Spring, twenty six years later and approximately 15 miles South of the original crash. 'This case highlights the importance of collecting and preserving DNA samples from family members of missing persons,' the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.'These samples can provide critical investigative leads and assist law enforcement in identifying missing persons and resolving cases, even decades after a person’s disappearance.'Raxa's family has been notified of this recent discovery.