Ellen Ruth Domb, 79, of Key West was reported missing on December 5, 2025, after a recreational dive on the wreck of the USNS Vandenberg off Monroe County. An experienced diver, Domb began her descent from the private vessel Activated Eau but was quickly separated from her diving partner by strong currents. Her partner was rescued by a nearby boat; Domb continued the descent alone and did not resurface as planned.

At the time she went missing Domb was wearing a TUSA Liberator Sigma II buoyancy compensator jacket (serial K0510010), a 14-pound weight belt, yellow and green fins, and a single silver aluminum 80-cubic-foot scuba tank. The U.S. Coast Guard, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies conducted multi-day surface, subsurface and aerial searches around the Vandenberg wreck but found no sign of her. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office is investigating her disappearance.

If anyone was on or near the Vandenberg wreck on December 5, 2025, or has information about Domb’s dive or equipment, please come forward.