Village prays for missing paddleboarder

At least 300 people logged on to Zoom for a community prayer session Thursday for Luciano Mercenari, the 29-year-old Biscayne resident last seen leaving a home Monday evening on his way to paddleboarding near Bill State Park Baggs Cape Florida.

The Zoom – which had reached maximum capacity – was published by the Instagram account PrayingForLuc, which gained around 1,743 followers by the evening.

Mercenari was introduced as “one of us” as the class of 2014 by Milly Beltran of Immaculata-La High School, the prayer host.

Mercenari's paddleboard was found far offshore, between 13 and 18 kilometers, between Miami and Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday evening, according to the US Coast Guard. The boater also found a “waterproof bag belonging to the late paddleboarder,” the post added.

The search is still ongoing, despite a lack of additional information, Coast Guard spokeswoman Diana Sherbs said.

“We're going to continue to search until all resources and leads are exhausted,” Sherbs said.

Sherbs said the Coast Guard is working with regional and state partners to find information regarding the search.

Although Mercenari has been missing for nearly three days, Sherbs stressed that the Coast Guard does not set a deadline for a search and rescue case or say when it will end.

A boater who saw news reports of a vigorous helicopter and boat search for Luciano Mercenari found the paddleboard Tuesday night.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound mercenary was wearing a light gray long-sleeved shirt and gray athletic shorts, according to a wanted flyer posted by the Coast Guard on X, formerly Twitter. He has short, dark brown hair and is clean-shaven.