On november 16, 2012 at approximately 3:00pm, operator put his boat on at davis creek boat ramp in navassa and headed out to go fishing.  According to a witness who was operating another vessel on the creek that day, operator had been having motor trouble and the witness began towing him back to the boat ramp.  Operator was able to get his motor cranked and so he advised the witness that he was ok and he untied from the towing vessel and went back up the creek to go fishing.  The witness also headed out to go fishing and passed by operator who was tying his boat to a tree limb in preparation to begin fishing that spot.  The witness had been gone about 2 hours, and upon heading bck up davis creek to the ramp, he found operator slumped over the gunwale with his head and upper body underwater. operator was deceased.  The vessel was tied to an overhanging limb from the bow and the cover was off the motor as if operator had been working on it.  The witness called 911.  It is unclear what caused this accident.  It is my opinion that only an autopsy will be able to determine the exact cause of death.  It did not appear that the death was caused by any fault of the hull or the machinery of the vessel.  The brunswick county sheriffs office notified the next of kin.  Myself and sgt secured the vessel and stored it at the dot lot in belville for safe keeping.  The next of kin was made aware of the location of the vessel.  It is unclear based upon the investigation as to the exact cause of the accident that lead to operator's death.  Based upon information from the deceased father, operator had recently gotten out of a treatment facility for drug addiction but had been clean and doing well.  Perhaps there was an underlying and unknown medical condition or an adverse reaction to detox that could have lead to the death.  Based upon my investigation, the cause of death is something beyond the expertise of this investigator.  It is unclear until autopsy results are submitted as to whether or not alcohol or drugs played any part in this accident.
NAVASSA                       