Maryland: Body of Kevin Yates found in the Chesapeake Bay; Medical Examiner said it was a case of accidental drowning
MISSING or MURDER on the Bay?
MISSING or MURDER on the Bay?
UPDATE: On July 5, 2018, Bruce Goldfarb, Spokesman for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for Maryland told THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY that the autopsy of Kevin Yates Sr., reveals that the cause of death was drowning and the manner of death has been ruled accidental. The body of Yates was found on July 3, 2018, near Poplar Island.
Search Suspended in Fishy Sea Story Disappearance
BALTIMORE, MD. – The U.S. Coast Guard in Baltimore suspended the search Friday, June 29, 2018, for a boater who went missing at some point in the Chesapeake Bay between Kent Island and Herring Bay near Deale.
Kevin Yates Sr., 41, of Church Hill, Md., is believed to have fallen from a 40-foot powerboat Wednesday, June 27, 2018, somewhere between Kent Island and Herrington Harbor located just south of Deale, Md.
The Coast Guard made the decision to suspend the search after numerous searches with multiple partner agencies for the past two days. Crews completed 39 searches, providing more than 870 square nautical miles of coverage.
Coast Guard Sector Maryland-National Capital Region received a report Wednesday at about 2:45 p.m. that Yates was missing from the 40-foot cabin cruiser.
The boat owner, John Patrick Guidotti, of Huntingtown, Md., had gotten underway with Yates at the helm.
This is the first place that this sea tale begins to fall apart.
Guidotti bought the older cabin cruiser at Knot Ten Yacht Sales with the intention of using the vessel as a liveaboard at the popular resort and marina located between Chesapeake Beach and Deale.
Authorities say that Yates was an experienced captain.
An experienced captain would have turned around when reaching the Eastern Bay as they neared the Chesapeake Bay due to near gale force winds and seas of four and five feet in height. Only a couple of boaters with the music turned up, and booze flowing would have had the temerity to continue on their adventure in the face of such adverse weather.
Guidotti claims that Yates needed to relieve himself and went below never to return. Yates may have taken a lean over the side of the vessel to relieve himself in the Bay while the Bay took a lean at the same time, resulting in his launching into the waves, without a life jacket. Guidotti told investigators that loud music was playing in the boat making it impossible for a scream for help to be heard at the helm.
An experienced captain would have remained at the helm and not allowed a novice boater to take over to visit the head. In short, the experienced captain, at least a sober one, would have just toughed it out.
Guidotti told investigators that when he successfully crossed the Chesapeake – in a blow that challenged the veteran boat captains of the Natural Resources Police, the Anne Arundel Fire Department and the Coast Guard – he found the waters of Herring Bay to be much calmer. At that point, he told investigators he went in search of the experienced captain, Yates.
After realizing Yates was no longer aboard, and what most people would consider a true emergency, the novice boat owner Guidotti didn’t call 911. He called a friend on shore, who then called the Coast Guard.
The onshore friend, instead of Guidotti who could have given much more precise information on his location, stated that Yates had likely fallen overboard between Kent Narrows and Herring Bay.
At that point, officials say that Guidotti managed to navigate the narrow channel into Herrington Harbor and dock the boat by himself.
Since the taxpayers are wealthy and provide huge numbers of millions to provide for search and rescue vessels, the Coast Guard Sector Maryland-National Capital Region command center launched search crews aboard boats, cutters, helicopters and coordinated search efforts with the Maryland Natural Resources Police, the Maryland State Police, Anne Arundel County Fire Department and Naval Air Station Patuxent River.
This lark on the part of the two men likely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide the massive search.
The Body will be the principal body of evidence
With the search over, only the recovery of Yates body remains to complete the story, and generally a body will surface within about a week, usually washed up along a shore on the Eastern Shore side of the Chesapeake. In many such instances, the discovery of the body will come from a person walking a dog. When the body is found, it will be taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy.
The Medical Examiner will be able to determine the cause and manner of death, whether any blunt force trauma or other violent means of death took place or if the death was merely a case of accidental drowning.
There are many cases of a missing person being a staged scene in order for a person to hide from society for various reasons.
Alcohol could have been a factor, as only drunks and idiots would have ventured out on the Chesapeake in such weather.
Yates had a DWI conviction in 2015, and another in 2004, proving his propensity to venture out and operate a motor vehicle while impaired – which is an identical offense as operating a boat while impaired – can have just as deadly consequences.
Guidotti was found guilty of DUI while operating a vehicle on July 14, 2010, in Anne Arundel County District Court.
Both men picked up drug charges in Maryland on several occasions.
A Gofundme Page has been established to benefit the widow and son of Yates.
HERRINGTON HARBOR, MD – A man who bought a 40’ power boat at a location on Kent Island for use as a live aboard at the Herrington Harbor Marina, just south of Deale, Md., contacted the Maryland Natural Resources Police at 2:45 pm on June 27, 2018 to report that another person on the vessel had gone overboard somewhere on the Chesapeake Bay.
Natural Resources Spokeswoman Candy Thompson told THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY that there were only the two people on the vessel and the one who is missing was the experienced captain that the new boat owner and arranged to assist him in making the trip from the Eastern Shore to the Western Shore. Investigators are working to determine how the missing man may have exited the vessel and under what circumstances as the boat owner told police he didn’t know at what point the experienced captain went overboard.
The boat was described as an older vessel.
“We are working our radar to attempt to pinpoint the exact area for searching,” said Thompson. “The water temperature is about 73 degrees, and with a life jacket there is a good expectation of survival in the water.”
Thompson said that the missing person wasn’t wearing a life jacket.
That information could only come from the boat owner who couldn’t tell police at what point the missing man left the vessel – a fishy sea story for sure. Two investigators are examining all aspects of the Chesapeake disappearance and searching for the day has ended, said Thompson, and will resume in the morning.
Thompson said the Natural Resources Police Helicopter Natural One, a Coast Guard helicopter and Maryland State Police helicopter were searching the Chesapeake Bay between Herrington Harbor and Kent Narrows.
“Three to four-foot seas and strong winds were blowing hard on our four patrol vessels and pounding them,” said Thompson. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Anne Arundel Fire Department also had vessels searching for the missing man.
According to the Coast Guard spokesman in Baltimore, the missing man is described as being a white male, about 6-feet tall, 180-190 pounds, wearing blue shorts and a dark shirt without a life jacket.
Coast Guard Sector Maryland-National Capital Region received a report at about 2:45 p.m., that a person aboard a 40-foot cabin cruiser was missing.
The Coast Guard report said that the boat owner, a novice, had gotten underway with his friend. During the trip, the friend had gone below deck and when he had not reappeared about an hour later and once the boat was in calmer waters, the owner searched the boat for his friend.
After realizing his friend was no longer aboard, he called a friend on shore, who called the Coast Guard. The reporting source stated that the man had likely fallen overboard between Kent Narrows and Herring Bay.
The sector command center launched search crews aboard a 45-foot response boat from Station Annapolis and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Atlantic City, New Jersey.
From WJLA: WATER RESCUE: The Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police says it’s searching for 1 person who fell off a boat into the Chesapeake Bay.