Lake County >> Police have identified the fatal victim of a boating accident on Clear Lake, part of a fatal weekend on the waters of Northern California on Memorial Day weekend.
The body of James Michael Leale, 74, of San Jose and Clearlake Park was recovered by divers Monday morning, Lt. Steve Brooks said in a media release.
According to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) public information officer, the fatal incident occurred Saturday at about 2:30 p.m. LCSO deputies responded to a reported boat accident in the area between Anderson Island and Vacation Island on Clear Lake. As deputies arrived to the area, they noticed debris floating in the water which included boat cushions, life jackets and what appeared to be pieces of a boat.
A witness told deputies there were three people in an orange boat that disappeared below the surface of the water, though they did not know what caused the boat to break apart and sink, Brooks reported.
“With help from another witness, they were able to get two survivors onto their boat,” Brooks added, “but said the third person did not appear on the surface after the accident.”
Deputies contacted both survivors. One reportedly told investigators he was the owner of the boat and was the one driving when the accident occurred. According to Brooks, he told the deputies that the boat was traveling at approximately 55 miles per hour when the incident occurred, although at least one witness estimated the speed at closer to 75. The operated reported that for some unknown reason the boat sailed up on the on the starboard side and came back down.
As the boat struck the water, it seemed to break apart and disappeared below the surface.
The vessel is described as an Eliminator speed boat, which was built in 1984.
Both survivors were transported to separate hospitals for medical treatment.
Less than 20 minutes later of initial reports, LCSO deputies requested assistance from the North Shore Dive Team in locating Leale, but were eventually forced to scale back the search due to poor visibility and the fact it was getting late and starting to get dark, Brooks said.
Sunday at about 2 p.m. the Marin County Dive Team responded to assist with the search. They were able to locate the boat which was submerged in approximately 30 feet of water but again were unable to locate the body as daylight dimmed.
It wasn’t until the third day of the search, Monday at about 10:35 a.m., that divers were able to find and recover Leale’s body from the water, Brooks said. The North Shore Dive Team was also able to lift and recover the boat which was in two pieces.
The cause of the accident is currently under investigation. Investigators are examining the possibility of a structural or mechanical failure with the 32-year-old boat.
Alcohol does not appear to have been a factor.
Elsewhere Stanislaus County officials announced Tuesday that they pulled from the water the body of one of two Oakland teens who disappeared after jumping into a reservoir. Two Pittsburg residents, including a Pittsburg High senior, drowned in Amador County, and a 19-year-old Oakley man was pulled dead from the water in Sacramento County.
The weekend tragedies all occurred Saturday, the same day the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department announced it had found the bodies of 23-year-old Kyler Jackson and his 1-year-old daughter, Kaylee, in a slough outside Sacramento. They went missing after departing the Antioch home of Kaylee’s mother, Jayonna Mason, on the night of May 22.
The two teenagers from Oakland disappeared after jumping into the Woodward Reservoir, apparently without life jackets. The bodies of one of the teens surfaced around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to Twitter posts from the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department. The body of the second teen remained missing Tuesday.
The two have not been identified by officials, but Crystal Pratt told the Modesto Bee on Sunday that one of the boys was her 15-year-old son, Josiah Pratt-Rose and that he was with his best friend, 15-year-old Jamari Wilson.
Amador County officials identified the Pittsburg residents Tuesday as 19-year-old Brandon Carranza and 18-year-old Zuleica Ruiz. The two likely fell into the Mokelumne River, Amador County Undersheriff Jim Wegner said on Tuesday.
Ruiz and Carranza appeared to have been swept away in the mountainous river, which alternates between slow-to-mild currents to areas where the currents run heavy, he said. Ruiz was set to graduate on June 8 and was going to attend Sacramento State University. She also was a police explorer in the city’s police department.
Neither Ruiz nor Carranza appear to have been wearing a life jacket, Wegner said.
And neither was 19-year-old Leandro Andres, of Oakley, whom search teams pulled from the water near Brannan Island just south of Rio Vista.
Andres appears to have gone under the water sometime Saturday afternoon, according to Rio Vista Fire Capt. Scott Bahrenfuss. Search teams from the Sacramento Fire Department, Sacramento Sheriff’s Department and Coast Guard found his body around 4 a.m. Sunday near the state recreation area on the island, Bahrenfuss said.
The two Oakland teens were not wearing life jackets, either, Pratt told the Modesto Bee. Messages left for Pratt by this newspaper Tuesday were not returned immediately.
“Whenever you’re recreating near water, you absolutely should be wearing a life jacket,” Wegner said.
The bad news on the waters began Saturday, when Jackson’s body was found in a Walnut Grove slough outside Sacramento. On Sunday, authorities confirmed they’d found the body of Kaylee, less than a mile away. The two hadn’t been seen in a week since Jackson left Mason’s home. She said he was driving on Highway 160 en route to his Sacramento home.
A Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said authorities believe Jackson drove off the road and into the water near the Walnut Grove slough. Foul play is not suspected.
“That’s what it appears,” spokesman Sgt. Tony Turnbull said. “It’s a very narrow, two-lane road, and it’s treacherous, especially if you aren’t familiar with it and especially at night.”
An autopsy on the two had yet to be completed, according to the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.
Rick Hurd is a reporter with the Bay Area News Group. Nate Gartrell and Sarah Tan also contributed to this report
