A report that Fox News Digital got from the police shows that the Florida owner of a boat that looks like the one that hit and killed a 15-year-old Florida ballerina on Saturday has been named.
The 78-year-old Carlos Guillermo Alonso owned the white and blue center console boat that state officials say is a “vessel of interest” in the death of Ella Riley Adler. According to the incident report, Adler fell into the water while wakeboarding behind a friend’s boat in Key Biscayne near Nixon Beach. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said Thursday that Alonso is helping with the investigation and that no charges have been made in connection with the death.
Officials from the FWC had said before the accident that Adler was waterskiing.
Following a boat, Adler and another woman “fell off at different times/locations and both were in the water simultaneously,” the incident report stated. A boat going west hit Adler and killed him. The other boat found and collected his body.
The FWC has taken Alonso’s 42-foot Boston Whaler away.
It’s not clear if Alonso was behind the wheel when Adler was hit; the incident report says that one person was in the car at the time of the crash. Lauren Field Krasnoff, Alonso’s lawyer, told NBC6 that her client was “devastated” and “had no idea” that his boat might have been involved until the police showed up at his door.
“I can tell you for sure that he had no idea that his boat was involved that day if it was. “He’s as upset as anyone could be,” she told NBC6. “When the police came knocking, he did not know why.”
Additionally, she said that her client does not drink, that “he was not drinking on that Saturday,” and that he has “no contact with the criminal system.” According to the incident report, it is “unknown” if drinking played a role in the crash.
“We are devastated for the Adlers, for their friends, their family, there’s no question in our minds that this is an absolutely horrific thing that happened and we pray for and think of their family and friends during this time,” said Krasnoff.
Also, Kransoff told the press that Alonso, whose name is Bill, has been fishing for fifty years.
On Thursday, the news source shared video of Alonso getting out of his car and going into his house with Kransoff’s help. Fox News Digital has asked the lawyer for a response.
At Ransom Everglades School, Adler went to and danced on the school’s team. Her obituary said that the high school freshman had been cast as a ballerina in “The Nutcracker” and had been in more than 100 shows with the Miami City Ballet at the Adrienne Arsht Center.
Her family wrote, “Everyone was drawn to her when she walked into a room.” “She loved to dance, she loved her friends, and most of all she loved her family.”
Adler’s family wrote that she was proud of being Jewish.
“She was the great-granddaughter of Holocaust survivors,” her family said. “She loved Israel and came from a long line of Jewish leaders with a strong commitment to faith and tikkun olam.”
Dozens of the girl’s friends wrote sad messages to her on her death notice.
“At the beginning of this year when Ella joined the dance team, never would I imagine the impact she would have on me,” Lauren Scott said. “From her smile to her contagious laugh, when Ella walked into the studio there was no way not to share her joy.”
“No one had ever made me feel so confident in myself or so happy to go to school, knowing that I was going to see her,” Emma Fayad wrote. “Because you knew you could always trust her, she made you believe everything she said.” That was too soon for me to think about having to say goodbye. Thanks for everything. I will miss you a lot. May you rest in peace.
Ella was “a wonderful dancer, served on the speech and debate team, and was a member of the Jewish Student Association,” the private school said in a statement. They also said that she “was a treasured friend to many.”
Tuesday, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levina Cava sent her condolences to the Adler family. In a letter, she said, “Honor her memory by practicing better boat safety to ensure tragedies like this never happen again.”
