MyungKi Kim, a 53-year-old Asian man from Vienna, Virginia, was last seen near Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on October 25, 2009. Public missing-person records list his case as NamUs MP6945 and place his last contact in Rehoboth, Delaware. The case information provided for this request identifies the investigating agency as the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and does not list the case as resolved, found alive, or located deceased.
Kim was reportedly fishing on or near the jetty at Indian River Inlet when the incident occurred. According to Cape Gazette reporting from October 27, 2009, dispatchers received information that a witness saw Kim slip on the rocks of the jetty and then get knocked into the water by a wave. The Charley Project similarly reports that he was last seen at about 1:30 p.m. that day, fishing near Indian River Inlet, when he slipped and was swept into the water.
At the time, Kim was wearing a dark blue raincoat and wader boots. The Charley Project describes him as 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall, about 175 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. The case information provided for this request gives a similar physical range of 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 11 inches and 175 to 180 pounds, and notes that his footwear may have been black-and-white wader boots with Velcro straps.
The conditions described in local reporting were difficult and dangerous. A Coast Guard public affairs officer told Cape Gazette that the tide was flooding into the inlet at the time, and that the witness saw Kim carried into the inlet. The same report described 10-knot winds, 2-foot seas, and visibility of 10 nautical miles. Those details help explain why the search quickly became an urgent water-rescue operation rather than a routine missing-person search.
Multiple agencies responded. Cape Gazette reported that a Coast Guard rescue boat crew from Station Indian River, a rescue helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City, Sussex County emergency responders, and TowBoat US searched for Kim. The Coast Guard and local agencies suspended the search by about 6 p.m. after determining that there was no reasonable chance of finding him alive.
Despite the search, no sign of Kim was found. The Charley Project classifies the case as lost or injured missing and states that he is presumed to have drowned, though the available public information does not indicate that he has been recovered. His disappearance remains a deeply painful case for those who knew and loved him, centered on a sudden accident witnessed at the water’s edge and the difficult reality that the search ended without bringing him home.Last Seen: Oct 25, 2009
