North Carolina man dies after diving into shallow water near Marvin Key

Edward Eugene Stills, 50, died Saturday afternoon after authorities say he dove into shallow water near Marvin Key in the Lower Florida Keys, became unresponsive and was later pronounced dead at Lower Keys Medical Center on Stock Island.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said the incident unfolded around 3:15 p.m. to 3:17 p.m. on May 2, when observers saw Stills enter the water near the uninhabited island and sandbar area. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers brought him ashore, and no foul play was suspected in the initial reports. An autopsy was pending.

The death lands in one of the Keys’ most deceptively inviting places. Marvin Key sits about 10 to 15 miles northeast of Key West, depending on the account, and is accessible only by boat. Its shallow beaches and sandbars draw weekend boaters looking for clear water and a place to stop, but those same conditions can make depth changes hard to judge and a headfirst dive especially dangerous.

That risk is part of a larger water-safety problem in Monroe County, where boating and shallow-water recreation are woven into daily life and into the county’s public infrastructure. The Monroe County Marine Resources Office says it works to protect nearshore waters, provide public water access and manage boating and waterway infrastructure across the Keys. Its waterway-marker system includes more than 300 channel markers and 251 regulatory markers, and the county says it maintains more than 550 aids to navigation.

Statewide, Florida continues to lead the nation in boating fatalities, injuries and accidents, a grim distinction that underscores how unforgiving local waters can be when boaters or swimmers misread conditions. Local reporting has also placed Monroe County at No. 1 in Florida for boating accidents in 2024, a ranking that reflects how often the county’s crowded channels, shallow sandbars and backcountry flats demand caution.

Around the Keys, debates over sandbar access, swim zones and vessel exclusion areas have long centered on the same tension visible at Marvin Key: these waters are a playground, a workplace and a transport corridor all at once. The latest death is not being treated as a criminal case, but it is another stark example of how a single misjudgment in shallow water can turn fatal within moments.