Eerie leaked audio reveals survivors’ chilling testimony in case of entire family who were lost at sea off remote coastline when tour boat capsized – as furious relatives tear into authorities
Disturbing leaked audio reveals a survivor’s chilling testimony as she watched an entire family become lost at sea when their tour boat capsized.
Mary, 37, and David Maynard, 42, as well as their two sons, 11-year-old Colton and seven-year-old Brantley, were aboard a 28-foot aluminum vessel with four others on August 3 when it began taking on water . the coast of Homer, Alaska.
Another ship responded to a radio call for help and was able to rescue the other four from a life raft, but the Maynards were never found and are presumed dead.
“They were just gone,” a survivor told jurors between tears during a presumptive death hearing on September 19, according to audio obtained by KCEN-TV.
“It had to have been, I mean it was 10 minutes, maybe 10 minutes before we had fun at the boat – the boat rolled like that, tipped on its side and then the engines went out and just the nose went up,” she said.
Mary, 37, and David Maynard, 42, as well as their two sons, 11-year-old Colton and seven-year-old Brantley, were aboard a 28-foot aluminum vessel with four others on August 3 when it began taking on water . the coast of Homer, Alaska
The tour boat captain also told the jury that while they were on the water, one of the engines sputtered.
He then saw another fishing boat nearby, so he anchored the boat.
“At one point, David asked me, he caught my attention, and he pointed to the aft corner of the deck where there was a drain hole for water to come up and onto the deck,” the unidentified captain said.
“He pointed at it and said, ‘Is that normal?’ and I said ‘no.'”
The captain said he then tried to turn on the engine to pull the anchor, but the engine would not start.
The captain went on to say that the last time he saw David was when he tried to radio for help, saying he didn’t know where the family was going as he tried to rescue his own family and get them on board .
He said he tried to reach the boat window, but the ship sank too quickly as he tried to look for the Maynards.
Another ship responded to a radio call for help and was able to rescue the other four from a life raft, but the Maynards were never found and were presumed dead
Survivors told a jury in September how the family disappeared within minutes after the boat capsized
Four others aboard the tour boat were later rescued by the vessel Salty Sea, and the captain said the Salty Sea captain “asked if there was anyone else there, and I told him there was, but they didn’t come out . the boat.’
The US coast then spent more than 30 hours searching for the family off the coast of Alaska for the family from Texas, using a helicopter, plane, cutter and two other vessels – in addition to the help of the Alaska Wildlife Troopers and compassionate Samaritan Steamboats. .
But Coast Guard officials said the Maynards had a functional survival time of just 7.1 hours and a cold survival time of 9.7 hours.
The six-person jury ultimately determined that the family of four died as a result of an accidental drowning, as their relatives demanded answers.
The six-person jury ultimately determined that the family of four died as a result of an accidental drowning, as their relatives demanded answers.
“It’s very frustrating because we have no idea what happened,” Rhonda Rizzo, David’s aunt, told KCEN-TV earlier in September.
“We have no idea what happened and it’s, I mean, we have multiple stories, but nothing definitive and it’s just frustrating.”
She noted that she had just spoken to the family the day they went missing.
“We talked to them that morning,” the grieving aunt said. “Colton called that morning and boom, we get a call: they’re lost on their seat, the boat capsized. Nobody knows what happened.’
Colton suffered from epilepsy for years and underwent brain surgery in 2021
Rizzo described Colton as having a “heart of gold.”
“He was a beautiful child,” she said. “I mean everyone, he loved everyone, everyone he saw, he gave them a hug.
“And Brantley was a bit, as they said, he was a little spitfire.
“He had a personality, that’s for sure, he was a lot like David,” she said.
Both boys played football and baseball, and Mary worked as a traveling nurse, while David stayed home with their children and ran a lawn care business.
The family has been through a lot, with Colton suffering from epilepsy for years before undergoing brain surgery in 2021, Mary wrote at the time.
The Maynard loved to travel and spend time with family and friends, which friends said they did in Alaska.