TACOMA, Wash. – Investigators are trying to identify a skeleton found inside scuba gear in the water near Commencement Bay.

Divers recovered the body Tuesday, about 300 feed off shore from the 4000 block of Ruston Way. Sonar and underwater cameras helped them locate the body about 200 feet below the surface.

One of the searchers was a firefighter who first spotted the body Monday while on his own dive.

"He came across it purely by luck.  If he would have been ten feet one way or the other he would have never seen it," said Eric Pollack, a friend of the firefighter and fellow diver.

"All he had seen was just a white skull. The white skull and a complete suit, tank, BCD, weights everything is there," said Pollack. Once the body was found, an underwater robot was sent in to retrieve it.

Detectives are now looking at missing divers records.

"Could have been there for years, up to 9 months," said Pierce County detective Ed Troyer. "We have identified a couple of divers who have gone missing from down here over the years we have not recovered, as well as divers off of Gig Harbor and other areas of Puget Sound."

The diving gear shows signs of having been underwater for awhile.  Just how long that is remains a question.  It's now up to the medical examiner to identify the diver.

"That at least allows the family some closure.  I'm glad they did and I'm glad they were able to recover it," said diver Rick Lewis.

Detectives say with the marine life underwater in Puget Sound, it does not take very long for a body to become decomposed.