The distinctive 1968 Hinckley Bermuda 40 was located nearly 200 miles away after alerts spread through East Coast boating communities.
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A search for a rare vintage sailboat stolen from a Jersey City marina stretched through boating networks along the East Coast before ending four days later in Newport, Rhode Island, where a police encounter aboard the vessel left a suspect dead and an officer wounded.
The 40-foot 1968 Hinckley Bermuda sailboat disappeared from Liberty Harbor Marina late Aug. 22, setting off a search involving law enforcement, maritime contacts and members of the sailing community. Its owner, Jim Bonomo, described the boat as the product of years of work and attention, making its sudden disappearance more than a simple property loss for him. The vessel’s unusual design also helped distinguish it from many other sailboats traveling along the coast.
Surveillance footage from the Jersey City marina provided investigators with images connected to the theft, and information about the missing vessel was circulated beyond New Jersey. Authorities and private boating networks alerted harbors and marinas to watch for the 40-foot sailboat as efforts continued to determine where it had gone.
The search became more difficult after the vessel’s tracking equipment was disabled, according to reports from authorities and the boat’s owner. Police said they lost the ability to follow the sailboat electronically as it moved away from the New York and New Jersey area. That put greater importance on visual identification and the alerts being shared among people working on the water.
The boat itself was unusually recognizable. Bonomo described it as a 1968 Hinckley Bermuda 40, a classic model with relatively few examples still sailing. He said the vessel had been the focus of about a decade of his work. Its rarity meant that experienced sailors and marina workers who received the alert had a better chance of noticing it than they might have had with a more common recreational boat.
That network eventually reached Newport, one of the country’s best-known sailing communities. The Newport Harbormaster’s Office was asked Tuesday to watch for the missing vessel. Shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday, the harbormaster spotted a sailboat matching its description anchored in Newport’s North Anchorage and contacted police.
The effort to recover the boat then took a deadly turn. Newport police said officers and harbormaster personnel approached the vessel and encountered a man on the bow. Police said he fled below deck despite commands, armed himself with a firearm and exchanged gunfire with officers. Authorities identified him as Brendan Norris, 27, of Newport.
Norris was killed during the encounter. A Newport police officer was shot in a lower extremity, taken to Newport Hospital and later released to recover at home. Rhode Island State Police, Newport police and the Rhode Island attorney general’s office are investigating the shooting, and officers who fired their weapons have been placed on administrative leave during the review.
The discovery brought an end to the immediate search for the sailboat but left major questions unresolved. Authorities have identified Norris as a suspect in the theft, but investigators have not publicly established why the vessel was taken, why it traveled to Newport or whether anyone else played a role. Officials also continue to examine the precise circumstances of the fatal encounter aboard the boat.
For Bonomo, the recovery mixed relief with the shock of how the search ended. He had appealed to the broader boating community while authorities tried to find the sailboat, and information about the missing vessel spread through marinas and maritime networks. He said his primary concern after learning of the confrontation was that the wounded officer recover.
The sailboat remained part of an active investigation after its recovery, delaying its immediate return to its owner. The case now spans two states and two separate inquiries: the theft of a distinctive vessel from Jersey City and the police shooting that occurred when the search for that boat ended in Newport Harbor.
Author note: Last updated August 28, 2026.