The pilot of the boat that struck and killed 15-year-old Miami dancer Ella Riley Adler has been identified.
Carlos Guillermo Alonso, 78 years old, was the only person on your boat at the time of the tragic accident, according to an incident report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The boat was seized by FWC agents on Tuesday after it was discovered outside Alonso’s $4 million home in Coral Gables. The Miami Herald reported.
Alonso is understood to be co-operating with authorities.
The report revealed that Adler, 15, had been on a 42-foot-long boat. She was there with 13 other people, including her teenage friends who were celebrating a friend’s birthday, NBC Miami. reported.
Pictured: Carlos Guillermo Alonso, the man police suspect hit Ella Riley Adler with his light blue boat on May 11 while she was wakeboarding.
Adler, 15, was with 13 other people on a boat. She was supposedly celebrating
Before the terrifying collision, Adler and another girl were being towed, one riding a wakeboard and the other on a wake surfboard.
The girls then fell off the boards at different times and places, although they were both in the water simultaneously.
That’s when Alonso, heading west, “hit the wakeboarder who was in the water” with his Boston Whaler boat, according to the report. Adler later died from her injuries.
The FWC added that Alonso’s boat is a center console boat with a light blue hull, which is consistent with initial witness reports collected by authorities.
Witnesses also said that after the light blue boat moved away, there was “a lot of blood in the water.”
The Coral Gables house where the speedboat was found
The boat that authorities say was involved in the death of 15-year-old Ella Adler on Saturday
According to a maritime attorney who spoke with NBC6 Miami, there is no chance that the person who hit Adler was unaware of the impact.
“I find it extremely hard to believe, because hitting a person is a large object, you would definitely feel it, especially if you’re going at any type of speed,” Michael Winkleman said.
The report does not say whether Alonso, the suspect in Adler’s death, will face charges, according to NBC Miami. It’s also unclear if alcohol was a factor in the crash because the report marks it as “unknown.”
Adler, described by loved ones as having a dazzling presence, was buried Monday morning at Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach.
She was a high-achieving student, a member of her school’s Jewish Student Association and had a “great group of friends,” according to her obituary.
Matthew Adler, Adler’s father, shared his heartbreaking message to his daughter at her funeral.
‘You were taken too soon and the world has been stripped of all the things you could have achieved. But you will always be here with us and your friends and family will carry your energy and your spirit forever,” he wrote in a letter read by Rabbi Jonathan Berkun.
Mourners support each other as they leave Temple Beth Sholom after Adler’s funeral in Miami on Monday.
At the service, they referred to Ella as a “star.”
She was also a talented dancer, appearing in over 100 performances of the Nutcracker with Miami City Ballet.
After police found the boat that crashed into Adler, his family issued a new statement Tuesday thanking authorities for their hard work on the case.
‘The world lost a star this weekend. She was beautiful and shining brightly. In her 15 years, she gave us more light than we could have ever dreamed of,” the family said.
“As we face this unspeakable tragedy, we ask the public to give us our privacy as we grieve.”
Ella is survived by her parents, Amanda and Matthew, along with her siblings Jaden and Adalynn. She was also the great-granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor and the granddaughter of Michael Adler, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium.
The family confirmed that First Lady Jill Biden visited the Adler family following the funeral in the Jewish mourning tradition known as Shiva, which lasts a seven-day period.
‘We are honored that the First Lady made a Shiva call to our family during this time of immense grief. “We are touched by her support and love and are proud to call the President and First Lady our friends for more than 40 years,” the family said in a statement.
