Witness: Debris Field Looked Like Yacht Went 'Through A Blender'

SAN DIEGO (CBS) — Investigators with the U.S. Coast Guard and Mexican Navy on Monday suspended their search for the fourth victim of a deadly sailing tragedy.

KNX 1070's Tom Reopelle reports a two-mile debris field is all that remains after a Redondo-based sailboat apparently collided with a larger vessel over the weekend.

Authorities released a photo of William Johnson Jr., 57, of Torrance, one of the four sailors believed to have been killed in the weekend race between Newport Beach and Ensenada.

53-year-old Kevin Rudolph of Manhattan Beach and Joseph Stewart of Florida also died, while a fourth person remains missing.

One sailor who was off the coast of Rosarito said pieces of the 37-foot Aegean yacht were scattered everywhere when wreckage was found Saturday near the Mexican border and there's speculation that a freighter or other large boat hit it.

"It looked like the boat had gone through a blender," said Erik Lamb.

No distress signals were sent.

Rudolph's wife, Leslie Rudolph of Manhattan Beach, says her husband was a third-time competitor in the race who trusted the boat's captain and never had qualms about sailing.

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