Body found in sound is missing kayaker, autopsy finds

BILOXI, Miss. (AP) - The body found Friday in the Mississippi Sound is that of a kayaker who had been missing for 10 days.

Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove says an autopsy Saturday confirmed the body as that of 23-year-old Nick Rainer, who went missing Feb. 27 while kayaking with his father.

The state Marine Patrol found the body more than four miles south of Biloxi. The body had been spotted by a charter boat fisherman.

The younger Rainer and his father, Ken Rainer, were last seen near Biloxi Bay's mouth, but a shrimper later found two empty kayaks. The father's body was found Feb. 28 near Davis Bayou.

Hargrove says family members helped identify the body through tattoos and birth marks.

Hargrove says Rainer died as a result of drowning.