On July 12, 2023 at approximately 1930 hours I, Cpl. of the Maryland Natural Resources Police Criminal Investigations Section, received a call from Lt. instructing me to respond to the area of Palmer State Park in Harford County, MD for a report of a fatal boating incident.  

I contacted Ofc. to make her aware of the call and instructed her to start her response to the same area.  I further instructed Ofc. 1 to make contact with Sgt. who was on scene assisting with gathering photographs, waiting for the Forensic Investigator from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and removal of the victim from the area of recovery.    

Initial reports of the incidents stated that two individuals were kayaking on Deer Creek and became separated.  One of the individuals noticed his friend's empty kayak, and when he found his friend he was unconscious in the water. 

While I was en route the victim's vehicle was located at Benjamin Bridge Canoe and Kayak Launch.  I proceeded to run the MD Registration in TLO and was able to identify the owner of the vehicle. This matched the name of the victim given to field officers.

  Due to our extended ETA it was decided that Ofc. 1 would interview Subject1 over the phone while responding to the scene of the incident.  I changed course and responded directly to the Victim’ residence in order to interview the family and answer any questions post notification, which was made in person by Sgt. at approximately 2155 hours.   I arrived to the Victim’ residence at approximately 2234 hours and was invited to enter the residence and speak with the family along with Sgt..  

I started by giving a brief overview of what happened that evening as relayed to me by Ofc. 1.  According to what was told to her by Subject1, Victim had invited Subject1 to go kayaking with him that day.  While they were on the boats Subject1 stated that Victim had fallen off his kayak multiple times and had mentioned that he was experiencing ringing in his ears and that his equilibrium felt “off.”  

The two gentlemen had been smoking marijuana but according to Subject1 no alcohol or other drugs were consumed.  He did state that Victim had not drank much water that day though.  At some point in the kayak trip Victim encouraged Subject1 to go ahead and scout what was coming upstream.  

While doing this Subject1 noticed Victim’s empty kayak, located Victim in the water, attempted lifesaving efforts to the best of his abilities, and called 911.   After explaining this to the Victim their first question was if Victim was wearing his life jacket.  I stated that he was not and asked if this was unusual for him.  

Both stated multiple times that they stressed that Victim should wear his life jacket when on the kayaks and that as far as they knew he almost always wore them.  Victim’s mom was able to show me a recent picture he sent her of him wearing the life jacket while on the kayak but did explain that was from a previous trip.   

According to family he had only recently purchased the kayaks and possessed no boating experience outside of his limited time on the kayaks.  They did mention that he was not unfamiliar with the outdoors and often spent time outside hiking, hunting, and camping.  They were planning on going camping as family at the end of the month when the kayaks would be used by everyone.  

When asked about Victim’s swimming ability the family stated that he had taken lessons earlier in his life, but they didn't believe he would be a strong swimmer.  They believed his highest level of skill would be a doggy-paddle at most.    I brought up the fact that it had been a very hot day and that Victim had not drank much water according to Subject1.  

I asked if Victim had any health issues that the family knew about or if he had recently had a major health event.  His parents answered that he had high blood pressure, and they believed he was supposed to be on a medication for this but had no idea of which medication, dosage, or if he was taking it.  When asked about any issues with his equilibrium or balance they stated that was not an ongoing problem for Victim 


According to his family Victim had stopped consuming alcohol other than the occasional social drink at a family gathering.   I then explained to the family that Victim was being transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, MD and that he would receive a full autopsy once there.  I provided them with the NRP case number as well as the OCME case number for their information and explained that they would need to give that information to the funeral home of their choice who would work with the OCME to retrieve Victim.  

At that time Victim’s mom made me aware that they had lost a son somewhat recently and were familiar with this process. At approximately 0007 hours NRP Field Units arrived at the residence to return the kayaks and Victim dry bag filled with his personal belongings, excluding his handgun that was recovered from him on scene, to his family.  

Ofc. 1 arrived to the residence at approximately the same time and a seizure slip was signed returning the property over to the family.  At that time we once again entered the residence to speak with the family and return the property.  

Ofc. 1 answered any additional questions she could at that time and explained to the family that Victim handgun would be checked into evidence and held until further notice.  We explained that the family's best course of action at that time would be to reach out to the Maryland State Police Gun Center in order to get information on what they would need to do to have the handgun returned to them.  

While speaking with the family they made us aware that Victim did not live at their residence full time but did use the address as his permanent mailing address.  They believed he lived in an apartment in the same County but had no further information on where it may be.  The family explained as far as they knew the apartment belonged to a new girlfriend of Victim.  

They did not know the name of the girlfriend, how long they had been dating (other than an estimate of it being a recent relationship), or where the apartment would be.  They did confirm that Victim would come and go from the residence frequently though. Once we answered their questions to the best of our ability all units cleared from the residence and responded to the Maryland State Police Bel Air Barrack.  

While at the barrack Ofc. 1 checked Victim hand gun, ammo, magazine, and holster into temporary evidence.  An email was sent to Sgt. making him aware of this for the purposes of transporting all evidence to the permanent evidence locker in the NRP Gwynnbrook office.  Once this was completed all units cleared from the barrack.On July 13, 2023 Ofc. 1 contacted me and made me aware that according to the Medical Examiner's initial findings Victim suspected cause of death was a major cardiac event.

It was decided that once we had the official results we would meet with the family again to let them know and to gather any necessary follow-up information. This case remains open and under investigation pending the autopsy results from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Dr. later contacted me to discuss his opinion in classifying the manner of death as “Accident.” In conversation, he explained cardiovascular disease(s) revealed in postmortem examination presented forensic evidence identifying the decedent to have experienced a major cardi

Deer Creek, Palmer State Park
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