Update: FBI Takes Over Missing Fort Myers Boaters Case After Empty Boat Found — More Questions Than Answers

The latest update on the Fort Myers missing fishermen, interviews with their families and unanswered questions.

The Coast Guard has called off its search for two missing boaters off the coast of Southwest Florida after three days of relentless searching by air, by sea, and with help from volunteers. On Monday, officials announced the suspension, saying they’d covered a search area bigger than the state of Connecticut but found no trace of the men.

“There’s no decision harder than suspending a search,” said Capt. Corrie Sergent, who leads Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg.

After the announcement, the families of Randall Spivey, 57, and Brandon Billmaier, 33, agreed to end their own search efforts. In a statement released around 7 p.m. Monday, they wrote, “While this is heartbreaking, the family is certain this is the correct decision and holds the deepest respect, gratitude, and acceptance for it. This is incredibly difficult for the family and for everyone hoping for a different outcome. We respectfully ask that the decision to suspend the search be honored, both from a professional agency standpoint and from a volunteer standpoint. The search area, which is now more than 100 miles offshore, continues to move west and farther from shore, creating increasing risk, and it is no longer safe to ask volunteers to put themselves in serious danger.”

Spivey and Billmaier had set out Friday on a fishing trip about 100 miles off Fort Myers but never returned. The Coast Guard found their empty boat about 70 miles offshore over the weekend, which sparked a massive search. Hundreds of volunteers joined in, scouring the Gulf for any sign of the missing men.

Alex Fredella, one of the volunteer searchers, said he and his son joined in after realizing they were already nearby. “We were all standing up looking for anything that could be evidence of someone needing help,” he said. “It hits at home because if I was out there in the water, I’d hope to be rescued.” Fredella described seeing multiple Coast Guard planes flying search patterns overhead. “The sea conditions were great,” he added.

Scott Smith, who helped organize the volunteer effort, said thousands of people took part in the search. The Coast Guard confirmed it covered 6,700 square miles—roughly the size of Connecticut.

Lt. Harrison, the mission coordinator for Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, said, “The Coast Guard diligently searched with our pilots, boat forces, cutter crews, and numerous partners. We saturated an incredibly large search area but, unfortunately, were unable to locate the two missing men.”

After exhausting every avenue with the most advanced technology and teams from Collier County, Lee County, the Florida Guard, and other organizations, the Coast Guard briefed the family. They made it clear: with all the resources and time focused on the most likely areas, they’re confident that if Randy and Brandon were on the surface, they would have been found.

The FBI is now leading the missing person investigation.

In a statement, an FBI spokesperson explained, “It is standard practice for the FBI to assist our law enforcement partners if we have a tool, tactic, or technique that could benefit their investigations. We assisted the US Coast Guard and Lee County Sheriff’s Office in the search for the missing boaters and will be ready to lend our assistance if information develops to suggest a violation of federal law.”

Both Randy and Brandon were attorneys who devoted their careers to helping injured people. The family said, “Few people were more concerned about the safety of innocent people than Randy and Brandon. We know—without question—that they would reach the same conclusion as the experts: that everything possible has been done. Theywould ask that this decision be respected and that the bravery and heroism of those who searched—those in the air and on the water doing the real, dangerous work—be honored.

This is incredibly difficult for the family and for everyone hoping for a different outcome. We respectfully ask that the decision to suspend the search be honored, both from a professional agency standpoint and from a volunteer standpoint. The search area, which is now more than 100 miles offshore, continues to move west and farther from shore, creating increasing risk, and it is no longer safe to ask volunteers to put themselves in serious danger."

A Family's Anguish and Hope

The families of Brandon Billmaier and his uncle, Randy Spivey Sr., are bracing for Christmas without them. Both men vanished off Florida’s Gulf Coast, 70 miles from Fort Myers Beach, after heading out to sea.

Deborah Billmaier, Brandon’s wife, says she’s sure the Coast Guard did all they could. She’s been sharing memories—stories about Brandon, and about the bond he shared with Randy.

Thinking about the holiday, Deborah looks back on how she and Brandon met in 2020. “Our love story, it’s pretty incredible,” she told Gulf Coast News. She remembers how Brandon stood out from the beginning—the way he spoke, how he treated people, the kindness he showed. “It’s just something indescribable.”

Now, at 31, Deborah finds herself a widow. She holds onto the memory of their last dinner—a quiet Thursday night, just the two of them. “You know, sometimes just those simple moments are the best,” she said.

Brandon and Randy set out for an offshore fishing trip later that night. The Coast Guard believes one of them went overboard, and the other dove in to help, not thinking about the boat’s engine still running.

“So they jumped in the water, and the boat just kept moving,” Deborah said.

She knows there was no way they could catch a drifting 42-foot boat.

The search was massive—more than two dozen boats scouring the water. The Coast Guard eventually found their boat, a green 42-foot Freeman catamaran named “Unstoppable,” about 70 miles offshore around midnight Saturday.

Talking about Randy, Deborah calls him “the most special person”—someone who radiated integrity and loved his family deeply. Both families were close. They traveled and fished together, united by a shared passion for the law. Brandon had become an attorney, hoping to join his uncle’s firm one day.

David I. Shiner, from Shiner Law Group in Boca Raton, confirmed Brandon worked as a trial attorney at his firm.

Deborah tries to take comfort in knowing Brandon’s last hours were spent doing what he loved. “He loved fishing,” she said. “He lived for it—he lived for his family, for me.”

ABC7 sat down with Randall Spivey’s son—he’s also named Randall—just before the search wrapped up on Monday. He admitted, he never thought something like this could happen to his dad or his cousin. His dad’s out fishing every couple of weeks, and has been for as long as he can remember.

When the Coast Guard called and told him they’d found his dad’s boat, but not his dad or cousin, everything changed. “It was, honestly, the worst few hours of my life. That phone call—there’s just nothing like it. My mom, too... if you could’ve heard her, you’d know. I wouldn’t wish that feeling on anyone. It’s hard to even explain. The boat was there, but they weren’t, and you just know something went really, really wrong for them both to end up in the water.”

Spivey’s sure they were wearing life vests. The white life ring was missing, too—he noticed that right away when the Coast Guard found the boat.

No one knows how Randall and his cousin Billmaier ended up in the water. Spivey’s son keeps coming back to the same point: something had to go horribly wrong. “My dad is the safest, most experienced boater you’ll ever meet. Whatever happened out there, it’s like a one-in-a-million thing. I’ve been on the water with him hundreds of times. I can’t even come up with a scenario that makes sense. Both he and Brandon know what to do in emergencies, how to keep things safe. No one’s jumping in after someone else—just doesn’t happen.”

What he does know? He’s not giving up. “We’re going to keep searching, no matter how long it takes, until we bring them home.”

More Questions Than Answers

The disappearance of Randall Spivey and Brandon Billmaier keeps raising more questions than answers. Two seasoned fishermen head out from Fort Myers, vanish 70 miles offshore, and their boat’s found drifting, engine running, no sign of them anywhere. No distress call. No storm or obvious trouble. Just gone. The FBI is digging in now, but officials aren’t saying much, which only stirs up more rumors and theories about what really happened out there.

So, what are the big questions? First, how do two experienced fishermen just disappear from a 42-foot Freeman, leaving it intact and in gear? The life jackets are missing. Maybe they were wearing them when they went overboard, but nobody knows. Why didn’t either man use the radio or send a distress signal? That’s not what you’d expect from fishermen who know these waters.

Weather reports don’t mention anything severe that day. Maybe the sea was rougher than we know, but the Coast Guard hasn’t given any details to suggest it was dangerous enough to knock both men overboard. Authorities did pull all the fishing gear off the boat, but found nothing helpful, no clues, no signs of a struggle, no evidence of what went wrong.

Then there’s the FBI. They usually don’t jump in unless something’s off. The Coast Guard called off their search, and suddenly the feds are on the case. But they’re not sharing what they know, and that silence just fuels more talk of foul play or some hidden factor.

And why would these two, with so much experience on the water, end up overboard in the first place? Their families and friends don’t buy the idea of a simple accident.

The search is over, but the mystery isn’t. The biggest question—what really happened to Spivey and Billmaier—still hangs out there, and the FBI isn’t answering it yet.