Many Murphy residents are familiar with Monkey’s Pub ‘n Grub on Hwy. 78 in Sachse and those customers probably knew Brent Folgner, one of the owners of the restaurant.

Mr. Folgner, 39, and his mother Jo Ann Anderson, 60, had been living in Rincon, Puerto Rico for the past few months. Puerto Rico was where Brent and his wife, Joann, planned to retire.

Joann Folgner, also an owner of Monkey’s Pub ‘n Grub, had been traveling back and forth from the United States to Puerto Rico for some time but was in Texas on the day her husband and mother-in-law were tragically lost in waters west of Puerto Rico.  

According to Mrs. Folgner, when she arrived in Puerto Rico authorities informed her that her husband and mother-in-law had taken their sea-worthy power boat out for a ride and some fishing on June 19th but did not return to the marina. The weather apparently became bad while the mother and son were out in the boat and sizeable swells developed in an area known for swift and unpredictable currents. 

In spite of a five day search by Coast Guard air and water rescue crews, no remnants of the boat were located nor were Brent Folgner or Jo Ann Anderson. Authorities concluded that the boat either capsized or the boat became damaged and sank if it had been propelled upon a reef. 

Mrs. Folgner spoke highly of the rescue efforts and mentioned that she had been told by an assisting police officer, that last year there were 15 cases of missing boats with passengers. Some officials suspect that some of those boaters could have gone into Dominican Republic waters and been arrested for trespassing without being given the opportunity to notify relatives. While Mrs. Folgner said it is a possibility that her husband’s boat could have had mechanical trouble, since it had been in the repair shop the previous week, it’s unlikely that her husband’s boat would have drifted into hostile waters. She concurs that the tragic accident was a result of a storm and unforgiving water. 

Our condolences to the Folgner family.