Jeff Tolly, 45, Found Dead After Search at Manhattan Beach Pier

Update 12:30 am Monday: The Coast Guard ended their search for Jeff Tolly, 45 near Manhattan Beach Pier Monday, after he was located deceased by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department dive team at 10:55 a.m.

The father of three was married to Kristy Tolly, a local pediatrician. The couple has 3 children.

At 1 pm Sunday, the Coast Guard reported to The Observer that it, along with the Los Angeles County Lifeguards were searching for a 45-year-old male diver near Manhattan Beach Pier Sunday.

Coastguardsmen at Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach operations center received a call at 10 a.m., from a friend of Jeff Tolly, reporting that Tolly went missing three miles north of Manhattan Beach Pier while diving. The friend had remained on the boat while Tolly looked for lobsters alone.

Tolly was a Huntington Beach resident. He wore a wetsuit while diving.

His body was found inside an underwater pipe that is connected to a coastal power plant, described by other divers as being 10 feet in diameter, filled with sediment and growth and very murky inside.

"There is a history of divers going into this pipe to look for lobsters, but it is very, very dangerous and I would advise against it," L.A. County Fire Department’s Lifeguard Division spokesman Spencer Parker said.

A Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Forward Operating Base Point Mugu along with a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium from Station Los Angeles and surface and air assets from Los Angeles County Fire Department are searching the area for Holly.

Stories such as this do not always end in disaster. Occasionally people turn up far from where they were last seen. In Venice CA last August, a man dove off the Venice pier. His friends reported him missing. Lifeguards searched for the man for hours, only to find him at home asleep, unaware that he was the subject of a search.