Swedish Sailor's Family Sent Autopsy Report for Wrong Body

Colombians Claimed Nordic-Looking Magnus Reslow Was 'Mixed Race'

Magnus Reslow’s body was found with his sailboat Dhokus after it washed up on the beach of Puerto Velero in Colombia in February. Questions about his death remain.

The family of the 64-year-old Swedish sailor found dead after his boat washed up on a Colombian beach still hasn’t been told how he died by local authorities. They received an autopsy report alright, but apparently it was for a different body.

Magnus Reslow, 64, embarked from Santa Marta on February 17 bound for Colon, Panama. Three days later Dhokus was found awash in the surf off Puerto Velero, about 50 nautical miles west of Santa Marta.

Authorities said Reslow did not formally clear out before he departed Santa Marta, and that he might have had a companion on board, but no second body was found.

Reslow made the news last December after he fought off three boatloads of pirates attacking succession while he was on passage from Santa Marta to the San Blas Islands of Panama. The Colombian Coast Guard finally came to his rescue and towed back to Santa Marta where he recuperated from injuries and prepared to try again.

Colombian Pirates Attack; Tough Old Swede Fights Back With Hammer, Flares and a Molotov Cocktail

Reslow was cruising engineless because he could not afford to buy a failed starter. Reslow said he was cruising on a budget of $230 a month, supplemented by whatever he could earn sewing canvas and sails for fellow cruisers.

Loose Cannon recently asked Reslow’s brother Martin for an update on the whether the family had learned the cause of death. The report they received in Sweden had classified that Nordic looking guy as being of mixed race.

No, strangely enough, there are more question marks now. The autopsy report we received a while ago turned out to be full of inaccuracies, including that he is classified as "mestis," that he had brown eyes and brown hair (he had blue eyes and white hair). His height and weight don't seem to match either. It is written that he had no injuries to his forearm despite having a metal plate operated on and a long scar. And several other things. We have requested DNA identification and to see the photos of his face from the autopsy.