LUBIN, Howard Guy

LUBIN, Howard Guy (c. 1943-1997) committed suicide by gun. His body was found floating off the east end of Santa Cruz Island on December 27, 1997.

In the News~

December 31, 1997 [Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department News Release]: “Coroner's detectives today positively identified a body found floating off Santa Cruz Island on Saturday, December 27, 1997. Howard Guy Lubin, age 54, and a resident of Dana Point, was identified by dental charts and other items found in his possession. Lubin was reported missing on December 9, 1997 by his girlfriend, Sharon Jaye. She reported to the Orange County Sheriff's Department that Lubin was missing from his residence and that he left a suicide note. A search of the area found his vehicle parked at the Dana Point Harbor, and is vessel, a six-foot Achilles inflatable boat with an outboard motor was missing. Also missing from Lubin's residence was a large caliber handgun. That night the Orange County Sheriff's Department and the U. S. Coast Guard began a search around the harbor and waterways with negative results. His boat was found the next morning unoccupied approximately ten nautical miles south of Dana Point. Lubin was in the water for nineteen days until a local Santa Barbara fisherman spotted him floating near Scorpion Anchorage on the southeast edge of Santa Cruz Island last Saturday morning. His body was recovered by the Coast Guard and taken to Santa Barbara harbor where Santa Barbara Sheriff deputies took custody of him. U. S. Coast Guard personnel determined that the ocean currents were consistent with a body traveling this distance in this amount of time. An autopsy conducted this morning revealed that Lubin died from a single gunshot wound to the head that appeared to be self-inflicted. The weapon has not been recovered.”

December 31, 1998 [LAT]: “Authorities Identify Body Found at Sea. A body that was found floating in the ocean off Santa Cruz Island over the weekend was identified Tuesday as 54-year-old Howard Guy Lubin of Dana Point in Orange County. Sgt. Jim Peterson of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, which has been handling the investigation, said Lubin was reported missing by his girlfriend Dec. 9. His body, clothed only in jeans and a single boot, was found Dec. 27 by a fisherman who saw Lubin in the waters near the Scorpion anchorage at the southeast end of the island. Lubin, who was identified by his dental records, apparently committed suicide after taking his boat out from the Dana Point Harbor. A bullet wound was discovered in his head, Peterson said. ”