RedactedNarrative: On the morning of may 14, 2014, bladen county communications received a call from two fishermen who said that they had found a personal watercraft along with the body of a male in the cape fear river around 6:55am.  Strapped to the back of the pwc was a small white cooler that was open on one side.  The cooler contained three empty samuel adams beer bottles and 4 coors light beer cans.  The victim was floating face down wearing a type iii life jacket. Officers noted that victim had a bloody nose and cut over his left eye.  Officers found a second body in the water, a female who also was face down wearing a type iii life jacket.  She was approximately 75 yards from male victim.
   
  During the investigation, it was found that the pwc was heading upstream and struck the tree that was stationary in the river.  The tree stuck out into the river about 20 yards on the left shore line heading upstream.  The pwc struck the lower limbs first and the operator and passenger struck a limb that was about 4 feet above the water level.  The pwc had a piece of tree bark stuck in the hood, brown scratch marks along the hood, damage to the left handle bar, and tree bark stuck in the rubber bumper along the left side of the pwc.
   
  The officers found a 6 inch hole in the center of the hull of the pwc.  The pwc also had a significant amount of water in the hull and brown scratch marks along the bottom which is indicative of a collision with a fixed wooden object.  
   
  Officer received a call from a subject wgi stated that he was downstream of lock and dam #2 about 7 miles when he spoke with the operator and passenger of the pwc.  Subject was test driving a boat that he launched from a private ramp when he watched the people on the jet ski fall overboard and did not appear to be reboarding very fast.  Subject approached them and asked if they needed help.  Subject stated that they were both having trouble getting back on the vessel.  Subject stated that there were beer cans and bottles floating downstream that had fallen out of their cooler.  Subject also stated they picked up all the beer cans and bottles and placed them back in the cooler and then towed the jet ski to a nearby shoreline to see what was wrong.  According to subject, the jet ski had a significant amount of water in the hull plug.  The hull plug keeps water from filling the hull of a vessel and can be removed to remove water.  
   
  Male victim pulled the jet ski on shore and drained the water by pulling the plug.  Subject stated he built a small fire and was there about two hours talking and helping victim make repairs to the jet ski.  Officer white asked Subject if he saw female victim on her cell phone.  Subject stated he remembered her saying that her grandmother had called her.  Subject stated that they were complaining about it getting dark and needed to get back to the boat ramp because they did not have any lights.  Subject stated that Male victim finally got the jet ski running and PWC subjects headed back towards lock #2.  Subject stated that the time they left was somewhere around 9:00pm.  Officer asked subject if he saw the operator or passenger consuming alcohol.  Subject said that he did not see them consuming but stated “i feel that the operator may have had a few to drink”.  Subject stated that they left in a hurry to get back to the boat ramp.  Male victim was the operator when they departed.
   
  In conclusion, the bladen county coroner determined that the cause of death for both victims was trauma and drowning pending further information from the autopsy.  The toxicology report shows that Male victim’s blood alcohol content was .18g of alcohol per 100 ml of blood at the time of his death.  Female’s blood alcohol content was .14g of alcohol per 100ml of blood at the time of her death.  Neither subject would have been able to lawfully operate any type of water craft at the time of their deaths.  In light of the toxicology report on the operator, it is likely that al