RedactedNarrative: Details of investigation:
  
  August 19th 2020
  
  On wednesday august 19th 2020 i responded to a boat fire at hoosier hills marina in dubois county.  While on the way i spoke with the assistant property manager at patoka lake.  Manager advised the boat fire took place at the c dock.
  
  Manager was talking to the boat owner while i was on the phone with him.  When i advised manager i was about fifteen minutes away he informed me owner had left.  According to manager he thought he was possibly going to the bathroom, but instead left the property.  
  
  When i arrived at the marina i met with manager and the marina owner.  The boat was located in an access parking lot south of the marina on a boat trailer.  The boat was a red and silver 2017 bennington pontoon boat that was 19 feet in length.   The boat trailer was a black 2017 trailer with an indiana registration plate. 
  
  I went to where the boat was moored when it caught fire. There did not appear to be any damage to neighboring boats or to the dock.  Remnants of  the suppressant chemical from the fire extinguishers was noted at the end of the narrow walkway that would have ran along the south end of the slip. 
  
  I spoke with subject who was on board a boat next to owners boat when it caught fire.  He advised his wife pointed out that there was smoke coming from the boat next to them.  He saw marina owner and yelled at him advising him of the situation.  According to subject, owner was not in the boat for longer than ten minutes.  He advised he uncovered the back of the boat, started the motor up, shut it off, covered it back up and left.  Subject advised it was less than ten minutes after owner left that they noticed smoke coming from the boat.
   
  After leaving the dock i went with manager and marina owner to the parking lot where the boat was trailered and took pictures.  In front of the motor was a storage compartment that housed three batteries. This was the location of the fire.  It appeared looking at the batteries the port side battery had the most damage and had melted through the wall to the seat.  This was the only location in the compartment where that occurred.  You could also see on the outside of the boat where the paint had burned from red to black and from black to silver in the location of port side battery,  indicating the location of the most intense heat.  This was also the only location on the outside of the boat where this happened. 
  
  The battery closest to the starboard side of the boat was a deka marine master with a part number of 24m5 and listed to have 675 cranking amps.  The center battery had a covering on the lower half and was manufactured by carquest.  It had a part number of 31hd5300 and listed to have 1250 cranking amps.  The battery on the port side of the boat was a  die hard battery with a part number of 24dc1 and listed to have 685 cranking amps. The carquest battery was the only battery that still had a battery cable attached to a terminal.  This would have been the positive side of the battery. 
  
  Marina owner provided me with pictures that were taken immediately after the fire was put out.  In the pictures you could see a metal danforth type anchor that was sitting on top of the batteries.  It did not appear in the picture however it would have been able to reach the port side battery.  
  
  Marina owner then advised me the fire extinguishers used to put out the fire were sitting outside the shop door.  I found three class b marine type size two extinguishers.  One of them still had some chemical and weight to it, the other two appeared to be empty.  The serial numbers of the fire extinguishers were f-930213, xu-25714 and ce-686063.  They were listed as an ambrex b456 model with 10 lbs of dry chemical (ammonum phosphate).  
  
  August 23rd 2020
  
  On august 23rd 2020 i drove to the home of owner and spoke with a family member who was letting their dog out.  I advised her that i had called owner several times and left multiple voice mails for him to call me back.  Owner had not returned any of my calls at this time.  I gave her a business card and asked her if she would have him call me. 
  
  A few hours later i received a phone call from owner.  According to owner he was delivering a spare battery to the boat and put it into the storage hatch with the other two batteries.  He described lifting the cover to the storage up about twenty five percent of the way and putting the battery in. Owner noticed the prop was in the water so he flipped the battery control switch from off to number one, started the motor for about fifteen seconds, trimmed the motor out of the water and turned the boat off.  He believes he was there for only about five minutes before leaving.  
  
  Owner did not know of anyone else operating the boat between the time it was worked on by the marina and the short time he was there.  I told owner it looked as though there was a metal anchor that was sitting on top of the batteries.  He advised that anchor is stored in that area many times, but did not have a recollection of handling or moving the anchor.  He advised he just remembered "sliding and cramming the battery into that storage area". He later speculated "maybe when i kind of like slid the battery in there, there is a big spool of rope there, that we use for that anchor and i dont know, maybe i had the anchor sitting on top of that rope and i, you know, when i crammed the battery in there i didn't take any caution in looking at it after i did it."  owner advised he owns the boat with his neighbor and it is under the llc.
  
  I do not believe the battery owner put into the storage area was the battery that started the fire.  It was apparent the most damage and intense heat came from the port side battery in the storage container.  There are no criminal charges pending at this time.