Body found in water identified as missing Hayward High football prospect

The body of a man found floating in the water off Miramontes Point in Half Moon Bay on Sunday morning has been identified by the San Mateo County coroner’s office as 18-year-old Hayward resident Naphtali Moi Moi, who went missing 10 days earlier while boogie boarding at Poplar Beach.

Moi Moi, a Hayward High School senior who planned to play football at the University of Wyoming, was with two friends at the beach around 3 p.m. on April 18 when he fell off his boogie board.

The friends last saw him out in the water facedown and unresponsive, and emergency responders were not able to find him during a subsequent search, county sheriff’s officials said.

A body was then reported at about 11:20 a.m. Sunday near the Ritz-Carlton hotel. Coroner’s officials used dental records to help identify it as that of Moi Moi.

The cause of death is pending further examination, according to the coroner’s office.