Human remains found in pond identified as recent missing person

By Zach Scott and Alexa Velez

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    NORTH NAPLES, Florida (WBBH) — The Collier County Sheriff’s Office has identified the human remains found in a retention pond along Lindsey Lane in North Naples.

Deputies identified the remains as 48-year-old Bradley Sugar. The CCSO put out a missing person alert for him on its Facebook page on Jan. 7.

Bradley Sugar’s mom, Andrea Sugar, spoke with NBC2 on Monday, sharing that her son was a kind man with an old soul who loved animals and spending time with his family. He moved to Naples during the pandemic and was a software engineer, a certified diving instructor, and a graduate of Nova Southeastern University.

“We’re in a state of shock, everybody is. It’s very macabre to think of what he went through, thinking he was missing and realizing he’s been in the water for five days. So we are devastated, and I don’t think we’ve fully realized it yet,” Andrea said.

According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, a call came at approximately 12:52 p.m., and its dive team recovered human remains from a retention pond along Lindsey Lane.

The homeowners’ association president of the community, Carol Johnson, told NBC2 that the remains belong to a man who went missing nearly a week ago.

NBC2 asked Johnson for his name, but she wanted to protect his privacy. Johnson did mention that he lived by himself and did not interact with people.

Johnson said a neighbor who lives near the pond saw the body floating after they were taking down their Christmas decorations.

They called 911, and that’s when Collier County deputies swarmed Cypress Glen Village.

“Basically didn’t come out in the neighborhood, and we’re pretty open neighborhood. We have a lot of kids in the community, we have schools, so it was hard to see him not come out and socialize,” Johnson told NBC2. “We’re heartbroken that we lost a neighbor, a friend, in the neighborhood.

The CCSO said all other information will be available after investigations come to an end.

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