UPDATED:Man found dead on Navarre Beach

“There will still be a death investigation,” said Sgt. Scott Haines, PIO for the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, “but all preliminary signs point to a suicide.”

Neil Fredrick Doerr, 72, of the 1800 block of Falling Leaves Drive in Navarre, was found lying face down in a pool of blood in the boat ramp parking lot at 12:25 p.m. He was next to his truck, with the driver’s door ajar.

Kevin Rudzki, a volunteer battalion chief with the Navarre Beach Volunteer Fire Department, was the first on scene when dispatch notified authorities.

“Our truck (with fire fighters Ed King, Ryan Villina and Gary Diamond) was here seconds after me,” Rudzki said. “When I arrived there was an unidentified male lying face down on the asphalt in a pool of blood. The police were here within a minute and took charge of the scene.” 

Local resident Pam Johnson said she was walking down Gulf Boulevard when she saw the pick-up truck driven by the victim driving around the parking lot. 

“Later I heard a ‘pop’ sound like a bb gun,” she said.” I didn’t think anything about it until I saw all of the police cars in the parking lot.”  

September is National Suicide Prevention Month. Mack Moore, assistant director of victim services and crisis line at Lakeview Center, said there aren’t (specific) warning signs of a person who is contemplating suicide. Rather, there are atypical indicators he said.

“Behaviors such as depression, withdrawing from activities that normally they would find pleasurable, would present,” Moore said. 

Identifying those emotions in another person is even harder when the stressors are shared, he said.

What friends and family can do, Moore said, was to simply ask if a person who presented as depressed and withdrawn, if they’re “ok.” 

“Get involved,” Moore said. “It never causes harm to let that person know you are concerned.

“And if they are comfortable enough to give an affirmative “yes I was feeling that way,” then we’re glad to share the information that will be helpful to them.”

Lakeview Center staffs two help lines 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Calls are completely anonymous and confidential. 

If you are feeling as though suicide is your only option, Moore stressed that you call 850-438-1617, or 850-433-TEEN.

There is also a support group in the area for survivors of suicide – for those who had a family or friend commit suicide. SOS – Survivors of Sucide – can be reached at 725-0191, or 723-6702.