Overview
- A multi-agency search early Wednesday recovered two missing kayakers in Shinnecock Bay after relatives called police at 1:29 a.m.
- Investigators said the men left the old south Ponquogue pier around 8 p.m. Tuesday in a single two-person kayak heading west.
- Daniel Villa, 25, was found around 4 a.m. at the northwest corner of the Ponquogue Bridge, and Juan Carlos Penaranda, 43, was found soon after near the bulkhead north of the Amalfi Restaurant in Hampton Bays.
- Both were pronounced dead at the scene, and the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office is conducting autopsies to establish the causes of death.
- Local officials urged people to avoid kayaking at night and to wear life jackets in cold water, noting a similar double fatality near the Ponquogue Bridge in November 2025.