A music teacher at Strawberry Point Elementary School was charged on May 1 with molesting two kids. She was later found dead at Drakes Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore, where she had been surfing.
Police arrested Darren Smith, 55, at his home in Fairfax on April 30 after a month-long investigation by the Marin County Sheriff’s Office found two victims of claimed “continual” sexual abuse, which means at least three times in three months, according to a spokesperson, Sgt. Adam Schermerhorn.
Darren Smith’s body was found in the ocean on Wednesday, about 2:36 p.m., after 911 calls said they thought a surfer might have been washed out to sea. A press statement from the Marin County Sheriff’s Office says the 55-year-old who lived in Fairfax was last seen around 10 a.m. that day. Around 1 p.m., his surfboard washed up on the shore.
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They sent many first responders to the area and started searching on land and at sea, according to the sheriff’s office. Someone found a dead body floating in the ocean about 2.5 miles northwest of the Drakes Beach Parking Area at 5:33 p.m. After a short time, the officials said he was dead.
Smith paid the $200,000 bail in just a few hours and was let go. He was charged with two felonies of child molestation and two felonies of committing a lewd act upon a kid younger than 14 the next day. His arraignment is set for May 3.
But at 2:30 p.m. on May 1, the Sheriff’s Office got a report that a surfer might have been washed out to sea at Drakes Beach. Authorities say that the call came from people who saw a surfboard wash up on beach but couldn’t find a surfer in the water.