NORTH COAST, Calif. – A month after he went missing while boating with his father on Lake Mendocino, the body of a Laytonville man was found on Monday.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the body of 40-year-old Vincent Soto was located at about noon.

Searches have been under way for Soto since June 11, as Lake County News has reported.

It was on that day that Vincent Soto’s father, 62-year-old Carlos Soto, also of Laytonville, was found floating in the southeast end of Lake Mendocino, about 50 yards from an unoccupied boat.

In the boat investigators found Carlos Soto’s identification, and also found a wallet and cell phone belonging to his son.

Family members told authorities that the two men had gone fishing together that day. Deputies later found Vincent Soto’s vehicle with a boat trailer at the North Boat Ramp of Lake Mendocino.

Since then, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Team, with the help of numerous allied agencies, has been conducting searches by boat, with divers and side scan sonar system, along with searches of the shoreline.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office Marine Patrol team, Marin County Sheriff's Office Dive Team, Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office Dive Team, the California Rescue Dog Association, Lyon County Search and Rescue, Hopland Fire Protection District and Rescue Solutions, a private company affiliated with several in-county swift water dive teams, were involved with the effort. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Dive Team also had been scheduled for later this week.

However, it was a kayaker who discovered Soto’s body, authorities said.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said it received a call at about noon on Monday from the kayaker, who reported finding a body floating on Lake Mendocino near the Coyote Valley Dam control tower, at the south end of the lake.

The sheriff’s office was assisted by the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in recovering the body, which was identified as that of Soto.

Soto’s family was notified and was waiting for him at the dock, where they said a prayer over him, the sheriff’s office said.

Authorities have scheduled an autopsy of Soto for Tuesday.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.