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Body Of Missing Teacher Found Off Panama Beach

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Jul 19, 2008 9:50 pm US/Pacific

Body Of Missing Teacher Found Off Panama Beach

SANTA MONICA A fisherman off the northeast coast of Panama found the body of a Santa Monica High School English teacher Sunday, three days after he was swept off a beach and drowned, his friends said Sunday.

Family spokesperson Jeanette James said Sunday the body of Joey Lutz, 25, washed up at Playa Wizard, a beach "not far from where he was swept away three days ago" in the Bocas del Toro region.

Local police took the victim's father, Stuart Lutz, to the beach at noon Sunday, local time, where he positively identified the remains as those of his son.

The victim's acquaintances told the family via MySpace Thursday that Joey Lutz was struggling and trying to stay above water Thursday after a monstrous wave knocked him off his feet in shallow water and washed him out to sea.

Witnesses told the family they saw Lutz struggling in the water, that his travelling companions could not aid him, and that Panamanian police failed to help them look for Lutz after he had been swept out. Bocas del Toro is an group of islands on Panama's northeastern "Mosquito Coast," popular with eco-tourists and surfers.

"I feel bad that there were no signs on the beach, no warning, no lifeguard, and it is known locally that this beach has taken a lot of people," said his mother, Freda Lutz, Saturday. "A lot of young tourists go to this beach.

"They advertise how everything is beautiful and that the beaches are great, but the currents are very bad," she said from her home in Culver City.

"When friends tried to call the police, they were very nonchalant about it. If there was any chance to rescue him, it was lost."

Lutz taught English at Santa Monica High for three years, and was a graduate of Culver City High School.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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