Sheriff’s office: Damage to boat led to fatal lake accident
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has concluded that damage to a boat led to a fatal boating accident on Clear Lake that claimed the lives of a Fresno couple last month.
Webster Medley III, 51, and Novia Walton, 50, died as a result of the accident, which involved the capsizing of Medley’s 19-foot 1985 Bayliner.
Early on the morning of Saturday, June 5, Medley and Walton, along with three members of Medley’s family, were on a nighttime fishing trip offshore of Clearlake Oaks when the boat began to take on water and capsized, as Lake County News has reported.
Family members said Medley had tried to save Walton, who couldn’t swim, when he went missing in the lake. She was found a short time later, face down in the water, while the other three passengers made it to shore safely.
Walton was transported to an out-of-county trauma center where she died later on June 5.
Medley’s body was found not far from the accident scene on the morning of June 6.
Following the accident, the Bayliner was transported to a county facility where Lt. Rich Ward said the sheriff’s Marine Patrol conducted a secondary examination.
Ward said that in addition to the Marine Patrol’s examination of the boat, the investigation was based on witness statements Marine Patrol received.
Based on that evidence, Ward said Marine Patrol had reached a conclusion.
“The cause of the accident is directly related to a damaged outboard transom,” he said.
The transom is the vertical section at the rear of a boat that strengthens its structure. It’s also where the outboard motor is mounted.
Ward said the autopsies of Medley and Walton concluded that the cause of death for both was asphyxia brain injury due to submersion in water and drowning.
The couple’s family reported that celebrations of life for Medley and Walton were held three days apart at the end of June in Fresno.
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