22-Year-Old Disappears in Rip Current While Swimming with Friends in Puerto Rico, Then Coast Guard Finds Her Dead

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo:Getty

Getty

A 22-year-old Indianapolis woman was found dead this week off Condado Beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after she disappeared while swimming with friends, authorities said.

The body of Cimone Alicea Dawson was recovered “submerged and unresponsive” on Monday, Sept. 9,U.S. Coast Guard officials said in a news release.

Dawson had been swimming with two other friends the night before when the three were caught in strong rip currents affecting the area, the Coast Guard said.

Multiple units were dispatched to the scene, including a Coast Guard MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Borinquen, a Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft from Air Station Mobile and a 33-foot Special Purpose Craft-Law Enforcement boat from Station San Juan, the Coast Guard said.

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Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of Rapid Action marine units and state and municipa mmergency rescue personnel also conducted search efforts on-scene.“We extend our most heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of this young woman and pray they find strength and closure during this most difficult time,” Cmdr. Matthew Romano, the Coast Guard Search and Rescue mission coordinator for the case, said in a statement.

Dawson’s death comes nearly one year after Indianapolis teacher Amanda Lynn Webster, 44,was reportedly found dead in a riverrunning along the Rio Blanco neighborhood in the Camino Viejo sector of Naguabo, about 35 miles southeast of San Juan.

Webster, who had been vacationing on the island, went missing in October 2023 after the owner of the property where she was staying realized she had left behind her belongings and a rental car on site.

source: people.com