LAPD detectives have issued a press release asking the public for information about Robert Louis Piatt, a 66-year-old kayaker who disappeared off the coast of Malibu Dec. 29.
By Knowles Adkisson / Associate Editor
The case of Robert Louis Piatt, the 66-year-old kayaker who went missing off the coast of Malibu in December after calling 911 complaining of chest pains, took a very strange turn on Monday. The Los Angeles Police Department issued a press release stating that a large motorboat was sighted leaving the area where Piatt’s kayak was later found “at a high rate of speed” and entered a fog bank just before a search and rescue helicopter arrived to respond to a 911 emergency call traced to Piatt’s cellphone. When asked if Piatt might have faked his own death, Officer Karen Rayner of the LAPD told The Malibu Times on Monday, “That’s the million-dollar question. Detectives are definitely looking into that possibility.”
Piatt, a businessman from Pacific Palisades, called his girlfriend on Dec. 29 around 1:30 p.m. from the Malibu Beach area as he prepared to go kayaking alone, according to the LAPD. Around 3 p.m., Los Angeles County emergency response personnel received a 911 cellphone call from Piatt “indicating that he was in the water and having chest pains” about 1.5 miles off of the Malibu Pier. When the emergency personnel responded, they found a capsized kayak and a life vest but no sign of Piatt. An extensive joint search for Piatt was undertaken by the U.S. Coast Guard, the county fire department and the county sheriff’s department emergency services detail. The search was called off four days later on Jan. 1. The case was then transferred to the LAPD and Piatt’s name entered into a national missing persons database.
The LAPD says on the afternoon Piatt disappeared, a witness on shore saw a 30- to 40-foot motorboat leave the area where his kayak was later found “at a high rate of speed” and disappear into a fog bank “just as a search and rescue helicopter had arrived to begin searching the water for Piatt.”
The witness described the boat as “having a dark colored hull, white superstructure, with a ‘fly bridge-type enclosure’ astern of the vessel” and “the rear stern view of the vessel appeared to be ‘very wide.’”
Det. Carmine Sasso, who is investigating Piatt’s disappearance, confirmed that only one person has reported seeing the boat, but said that the witness was adamant about it. Sasso says the press release was issued in order to encourage other potential witnesses who were near the Malibu Pier Dec. 29 to come forward.
Sasso said the unusual circumstance that made Piatt’s disappearance seem odd was that his life jacket was attached to the cockpit of the kayak, even though investigators believe it was Piatt’s first time to go kayaking.
“That just bothers me. Why isn’t your life vest on?” Sasso told The Malibu Times Tuesday in a telephone interview. “I don’t get it. If you’re going to go kayaking for the first time, I mean I’m an adventurous person, but I’m going to wear a life jacket.
“Was there foul play involved? I don’t know. All I know is what happened that day, there was a witness who saw the boat,” Sasso said.
Investigators are hoping for help from the public regarding information about the alleged boat, and would especially like to speak to the crewmembers of the boat.
When asked if the LAPD’s investigation had uncovered problems in Piatt’s personal life that would suggest a motive for him to fake his own death, Sasso said he did not “want to get into that right now.”
“I hate to say something and then that’s not the case,” Sasso said. “We’re in the process of corroborating with sources what was going on in his personal world.”
Paul Grisanti, a Realtor in Malibu who knew Piatt as a friend for almost 30 years, says he finds it difficult to believe what is being insinuated.
“To me it seems far-fetched,” Grisanti said. “I knew the guy for close to 30 years. He was a smart guy, a decorated marine. But his health hadn’t been that great lately, and he put on some weight.
“Who knows? In my heart of hearts I hope he did live. I wish I could tell you I’ve been getting postcards from Buenos Aires and Cartagena and Vienna. It’s really unfortunate for his family.”
The LAPD is asking for the public’s help for information about Piatt’s disappearance, especially information pertaining to the boat.
Piatt is described as a bald white male with brown eyes who is 5’9” tall and weighs 170 lbs. Persons with information regarding Piatt’s disappearance are asked to call the Los Angeles Police Department, Missing Persons Unit, Detective Carmine Sasso at 213.996.1800.