On the morning of 6/19/12 i was notified by det. from the moore county so of a boating incident that took place on the date of 6/16/12 at wood lake involving property damage only and had been investigated by his office.  I asked him to email me the incident report.  After reviewing the incident report and noticing the amount of property damage, i opened an ivestigation of the case.  On the afternoon of 6/21/12 myself and mo contacted the victim in the case and met with him at his residence to survey the damage and to start our investigation.  

Pier owner met us and showed us the damage to his vessel and to his pier.  We photographed the vessel, pier and damage.  While we were at the scene, we were approached by a neighbor,  who stated that his wife and a friend actually heard and witnessed the incident.  Witness himself stated that he also observed moments after the incident, a pontoon boat with a man and a woman on board heading out of the cove under the bridge out into the main lake, as well as a small kayak with another male heading toward a dock a few houses up.  Pier owner stated that he had gone and talked to Subject, who resides at the residence who told him that his 94 year old father had been operating his pontoon boat during that time and was in the area of his dock but had not been involved in an accident.  

Upon reviewing the incident report from the so, subject also told this to the investigator who observed fresh damage to the vessel docked at the residence.  After getting the report information from Pier owner, we proceded to the residence of subject.  We were greeted by subject who said he would talk to us, but he didn't want us to talk to his father due to the fact that it would upset him.  We were also in the company of a caretaker of Operator1., and a resident.  Subject told me that he had taken another vessel out on the lake to check a propeller and told his father not to operate while he was gone.  When he came back, he saw his dad and caretaker in the pontoon just down the cove in distress.  He stated he took his kayak to assist getting a rope unwrapped from the propeller in which he cut out.  He said he did not see him hit anything.  

Caretaker stated she was in the vessel and they had gotten the rope wrapped around the propeller and were not able to go anywhere and drifted up on the bank.  She also stated that subject did not hit another boat and that she witnessed a runabout boat with 4 adults one with bright red hair "speeding" out of the cove, and they must have been the ones that hit the boat.  I advised them that i would like to inspect the pontoon boat and they agreed.  Upon inspecting the front starboard pontoon, i noticed an old bend in the point of the pontoon that appeared to have very fresh metal to metal scars that were initially consistent with the damage and scratches to the victim's vessel.  We questioned Subject again and he stated that it was possible but he didn't know anything, but would pay for the damage.  I advised him that the investigation was ongoing and that he may want to notify his insurance provider that his property was suspected to be involved in an accident, and he stated he would turn it in to the insurance company.  On the morning of 6/22/12, myself and mo again visited the scene and took measurements and photos of damage, met with caretaker and got a statement.  We also attempted to talk to Operator1. But were denied by caretaker due to him having had a bed accident.  She asked us to come back later.  She also stated that whoever said they saw her at the accident was a lie and that she was in that boat and they didn't hit anything.  At that point, we proceeded to the wood lake management office to check on the ownership and insurance information and found tha

VASS                          