Found Deceased AL - Kelsey Starling, 26, boating accident, Winston County, Smith Lake, 4 Jul 2019 *Arrests*

[PastTense]

"The search for 26-year-old Kelsey Starling entered its seventh day Thursday. After beginning early in the morning, the search was cut short in the mid-afternoon due to rain and lightning.

Starling has been missing since being involved in a boating accident on Smith Lake the night of Independence Day. So far, she has not been found. “We have been searching in the general area that we believe the impact occurred,” said Sgt. Chad Pate with the Marine Patrol Division.


Helicopters, boats, and sonars have all been utilized to search the waterways around Wren Rd., and while Starling has yet to be found, Pate tells CBS 42 that progress is being made.


“Progress is finding an area, ruling it out moving onto the next one,” explained Pate. “So, yes, there’s been spots that have been ruled out. We’re just still working the area just like we were on day one. We’re doing the best we can and we’re still hopeful for a recovery each and every day.”"
Day 7 search for Kelsey Starling cut short due to weather

 

[TatianaBarbie]

https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/...udes-1st-week-will-continue-into-weekend.html

 

[YaYa_521]

Oh gosh, this doesn't sound good. I'll be keeping her and her loved ones in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[TatianaBarbie]

Search for Kelsey Starling after July 4 boat crash on Smith Lake concludes 1st week, will continue into weekend

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More from the excellent article by al.com:

The crash happened about 10 p.m. July 4. The 26-year-old Starling, a Troy native ans speech language pathologist at Tuggle Elementary School, was a passenger in a 2012 Mastercraft wakeboard boat driven by 23-year-old William Jackson Fite of Decatur.
Fite was booked into the Winston County Jail early July 5 on a charge of boating under the influence and has since been released on $2,000 bond.
Four other passengers on the Mastercraft were transported for medical attention by emergency responders, said Marine Patrol Lt. Chad Pate.
One person was injured on the second vessel, a 2011 Harris Flotebote pontoon boat operated by 50-year-old Jodi Wallace Suggs of Decatur.

There is a picture of William Fite in the article, but I'm trying to stay in the 10% quoting rule!

 

[YaYa_521]

More from the excellent article by al.com:

Search for Kelsey Starling concludes 1st week after July 4 boat crash on Smith Lake, will continue into weekend

There is a picture of William Fite in the article, but I'm trying to stay in the 10% quoting rule!

Me too!

link

 

[PommyMommy]

JUL 14, 2019
Underwater trees continue to challenge officials on day 9 of Kelsey Starling search
For nine days, search crews have thrown everything they have at finding 26-year-old Kelsey Starling, a speech pathologist with Birmingham City Schools. Starling went missing from Smith Lake following a boating accident the night of Independence Day.

[...]

Daphne Search and Rescue utilized their state-of-the-art Kongsberg Sonar to see the bottom of the lake, and provided screenshots to CBS 42.

On average, the trees range between 40 and 100 feet tall.

“The trees that we’re seeing provide obstacles to us,” said Gibbs. “Both being able to see the bottom well, and to see a target in the water if they’re there.”

Robert Sherman CBS 42

[...]

The search for Kelsey Starling is expected to resume Sunday, barring bad weather.

 

[YaYa_521]

Ty for updating.
Those are beautifully eerie pics. I pray they can find her soon.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

JUL 14, 2019
Underwater trees continue to challenge officials on day 9 of Kelsey Starling search
For nine days, search crews have thrown everything they have at finding 26-year-old Kelsey Starling, a speech pathologist with Birmingham City Schools. Starling went missing from Smith Lake following a boating accident the night of Independence Day.

[...]

Daphne Search and Rescue utilized their state-of-the-art Kongsberg Sonar to see the bottom of the lake, and provided screenshots to CBS 42.

On average, the trees range between 40 and 100 feet tall.

“The trees that we’re seeing provide obstacles to us,” said Gibbs. “Both being able to see the bottom well, and to see a target in the water if they’re there.”

Robert Sherman CBS 42

[...]

The search for Kelsey Starling is expected to resume Sunday, barring bad weather.

I don't think I have ever seen underwater photographs like that in any case I have ever followed. I did not know that they can have that much of definition so far down.

ETA, I need to keep in mind it is done with sonar and not photography. But still, I had no idea that sonar could do that type of definition.

 

[PommyMommy]

JUL 14, 2019
https://www.troymessenger.com/2019/07/14/eye-witnesses-help-focus-search-for-starling/
[...]

AS posted Sunday morning that authorities were able to find an eye witness whose “GPS coordinates we were able to refine the location of the incident.”

“While it is in line where they are currently searching, its a little further out than expected, and in deeper water,” AS said. “The depth requires a different mixture for the divers to breathe and the divers have to decompress when resurfacing. Water temperature is cold at that depth. The trees are thicker and there is more underbrush hampering the search. These are all dangerous conditions to the divers.”

Because of this added risk, AS said the search will be conducted solely by Remotely Operated Vehicles until Starling is found, at which point the human divers will be involved.

[...]

 

[YaYa_521]

JUL 14, 2019
https://www.troymessenger.com/2019/07/14/eye-witnesses-help-focus-search-for-starling/
[...]

AS posted Sunday morning that authorities were able to find an eye witness whose “GPS coordinates we were able to refine the location of the incident.”

“While it is in line where they are currently searching, its a little further out than expected, and in deeper water,” AS said. “The depth requires a different mixture for the divers to breathe and the divers have to decompress when resurfacing. Water temperature is cold at that depth. The trees are thicker and there is more underbrush hampering the search. These are all dangerous conditions to the divers.”

Because of this added risk, AS said the search will be conducted solely by Remotely Operated Vehicles until Starling is found, at which point the human divers will be involved.

[...]

Thanks for the updates!

Her poor loved ones. To know where she is and can't get to her must be an excruciating pain. My prayers are going up for their comfort and strength.

 

[PommyMommy]

JUL 15, Updated JUL 16, 2019
Day 11: The search for missing boater, Kelsey Starling, continues
The search for a missing boater on Smith Lake grows more challenging by the day.

Recovery crews are taking the search for Kelsey Starling day-by-day, with no immediate plans to stop looking.

[...]

“Smith Lake has got areas that are well over 200, 300 feet deep. So where it was flooded, all those trees and timber are down there. It’s so much colder down there. She’ll have to be found with a camera and then a dive team,” Lt. Stacy Smith with ALEA said.

[...]

JUL 16, 2019
Search for Kelsey Starling on Smith Lake hampered by underwater forest
[...]

Alabama Law Enforcement Agency's Marine Patrol believes Starling's body is located in an area of the lake roughly 250 feet deep. Sonar images captured timbers rising as high 100-120 feet from the lake bed. Crews spent four hours on Tuesday untangling sonar equipment from the timbers. It has made diving at those depths immensely challenging.

"It's like looking at a forest in the winter time. There's no leaves on it but that's how thick it is," said ALEA Marine Patrol's Corporal Pat Welton. "Below 70 feet it's like going into a closet at night and turning the light off."

Lewis Smith Lake was created as a reservoir by Alabama Power in 1961. Welton said crews only cleared trees 60 feet away from the eventual shoreline. Valleys of trees eventually became the bottom of Alabama's deepest lake. Welton said he has measured depths of 340 feet in certain parts of the lake.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

JUL 17, 2019
Underwater forest hampers search for missing Cullman woman
[...]

Many trees weren’t cut down when workers created Smith Lake more than 50 years ago, The Cullman Times reported Tuesday. The lake is northwest of Birmingham.

[...]

“The standing timber is the biggest problem in the area where the search is underway. Some of the trees are 50 and 60 feet (15 to 18 meters) tall, and the water is at depths of 165 feet (50 meters) and even 238 feet (73 meters) at one point,” said Hutchens.

[...]

Teams haven’t been able to find any trace of Starling, and Hutchens said the depth of the lake also is a problem.

“Our divers are certified to go to about 100 feet (30 meters) and we can’t put them in those trees, unless sonar shows something that needs to be checked carefully,” he said. “It’s very rugged and we have the divers on standby while more work is being done with sonar.”

 

[bluenoser]

She (and her friends) are stunning! Just an observation. It's incredibly said either way. To think that a night of fun can turn so tragic. All the others there that night must be so devastated. I wonder if they were all aware that you cannot drink and drive a boat?

 

[PastTense]

I wonder if they were all aware that you cannot drink and drive a boat?

Probably. But I expect it is just like driving a car and drinking: "sure I've had a few drinks, but I am in no way impaired in my ability to operate the vehicle".

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

In the group photo, is Kelsey in the middle or on the viewer's far left? I can't tell, honestly. And I am so freaked by the underwater sonar that I have to divert my mind to other things here, ack!

Her family and friends, I can't imagine... May they find the strength to finish this mission (to find her) and the courage to celebrate her and live on when the time comes.

 

[Barlow]

In the group photo, is Kelsey in the middle or on the viewer's far left? I can't tell, honestly. And I am so freaked by the underwater sonar that I have to divert my mind to other things here, ack!

Her family and friends, I can't imagine... May they find the strength to finish this mission (to find her) and the courage to celebrate her and live on when the time comes.

Kelsey is in the middle, but the first time I saw the photo, I had to do a double take.
I can’t even begin to imagine how or what her family and friends are going through either. I just hope they can be comforted knowing that she’s in such a better place, and they can be thankful for everything she did here, and for all the lives she’s impacted.

 

[PommyMommy]

JUL 17, 2019
The search for the missing boater on Smith Late has been postponed today because of weather.

 

[PommyMommy]

JUL 19, 2019
Search suspended for missing Birmingham teacher after July 4 boat crash
The search for a Birmingham City Schools teacher missing since a horrific Fourth of July boat crash has been suspended indefinitely.

Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Marine Marine Patrol troopers on Friday said there are search operations planned for next week but said there will no longer be formal daily searches.

[...]

Pate said ALEA Marine Patrol troopers will search the area regularly while on boat patrol. ALEA Aviation will still conduct aerial searches periodically. Winston County EMA has specialty sonars out of Dothan and Florida scheduled for next week as well.

[...]

 

[TristanP]

This is the stuff of nightmares for me.

 

[1&2&3]

So sad! They know she is down there. Do they just don’t have an idea of where? I had read about all the trees down deep, but it surely isn’t as deep as an ocean and divers find people th the ocean.

What do they need to find her?