On July 18, 2011, at approximately 15:35 hours, Travis County Deputies were dispatched to Devils Cove on Lake Travis in reference to a missing person.  Upon arrival, at approximately 15:38 hours, they were advised that a male jumped from the top deck of the boat, identified as Margaritaville.  Margaritaville is a 66' Stardust houseboat bearing TX 7123 EW.  Victim jumped off the vessel while it was transitioning at headway speed in the middle of Devils Cove, approximately 200 yards from the no wake buoys going towards the back of the cove.  Victim was not wearing a PFD when he jumped off the vessel.  The boat was still adrift when the deputies arrived, which was 10 minutes after the original call and according to the call notes, the occupants of the vessel waited a minimum of 5 minutes before calling 911.  The deputies set a buoy marker at a water depth of 35 feet where the Victim was last seen.  

The deputies gathered all the individuals looking for Victim and had them get back onto the vessel.  The deputies then anchored the vessel to a mooring buoy towards the rear of Devils Cove.  At approximately 16:04 hours, Starflight and Lake Travis Fire and Rescue checked the area.  The fire boat checked the area of where the Deputies set their marker with sidescan sonar and found no points of interest.  The Deputies and LCRA boarded the "Margaritaville" and obtained statements from the witnesses.  According to the statements, Victim was on the top deck, starboard (right) side of the boat, near the aft (rear) of the vessel.  The vessel was cruising at headway speed when Victim said he was ready to go swimming.  Victim then did a back flip off the vessel, using the railing from the awning.  Victim came back up and began swimming.  The witnesses went back to what they were doing or looked away and they could not see Victim any longer.  No one on the vessel observed Victim go under water, but there were witnesses that guessed that the time they looked away from Victim was very short.  

Deputy spoke to Witness, who stated that the entire group were servers at a local restaurant, which was being remodeled.  They took this opportunity to make a trip out to the lake, compliments of their owners.  Witness said that Victim had fallen onto hard times lately.  Victim has been sleeping on friend’s couches and the night before this trip his vehicle was broken into and all of his personal items and identification were stolen.  It is unclear whether this incident was reported or where it may have occurred.  Witness also relayed to Deputy that Victim has been drinking alcohol heavily lately and had been drinking before coming onto the vessel for their trip.  Witness knew little about Victim, other than the fact that his parents live in the Dallas/Ft Worth area.  

Victims assistance was offered to the group and was waiting on the dock of Emerald Point Marina, but once the boat began going towards the Marina they all refused.  

The only property that Victim left on the vessel was his cell phone, which Deputy seized and processed into evidence at the Travis County Sheriffs West Sub-Station.  

Case information was given to the boat Captain, and the part owners of the restaurant.

At approximately 17:37 hours, Deputy released Captain and released the vessel to its mooring at Emerald Point Marina.  The vessel is side slipped on the end of "L" dock.

Once the houseboat cleared the area Deputy went back to the scene to conduct a shoreline search and to place crime scene tape streamers off the marker buoy.

A page was sent out to the Travis County Dive Team and a plan was made to dive the scene the next morning.

On 07/19/2011 at approximately 21:42 hours, Victim's body was found floating on the surface water in Devils Cove.  

Austin                        