STOCK ISLAND, Fla. – Misty Dawn Wildmon was among a group aboard a boat returning from an Oct. 6 offshore memorial service when she, too, would lose her life, after the vessel slammed into a channel marker off Stock Island.
Four months later, the boat’s captain is facing a vessel homicide charge in the Key West woman’s death.
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Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrested Daniel Anthony Ross on Monday at Robbie’s of Key West Marina, located at 7281 Shrimp Road on Stock Island.
Ross, 53, was operating the 22-foot Ranger boat at roughly 25 to 30 mph during the nighttime hours when he hit the channel marker in Safe Harbor Channel, according to FWC and an arrest warrant.
The arrest warrant said the force of the crash caused Wildmon, 46, to hit the channel marker and steel pile with “extreme force.”
“After the initial impact, Wildmon fell backwards and hit the Evinrude engine cowling (engine cover) with her head,” investigators wrote. “Wildmon’s head struck the cowling with enough force to break the fiberglass cover.”
According to FWC, while the other occupants rendered aid to another victim in their party, Ross steered back towards the channel marker and found Wildmon unresponsive in the water. She later died at Lower Keys Medical Center.
The arrest warrant states she suffered fatal blunt-force trauma to her head and face and internal injuries. Ross, authorities said, improperly allowed her to sit on the edge of the boat. No one aboard was wearing a life jacket.
Investigators concluded that, contrary to U.S. Coast Guard guidelines, Ross didn’t have a lookout and his vessel was not properly equipped to operate safely at night.
“Ross operated (the boat) during night hours without using all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances,” investigators wrote in the arrest warrant. “There were six other people on board (the boat), yet no one was designated to ‘lookout’ for the unlit Daybeacon ‘5′. Ross relied upon his own night vision and (the boat)’s sidelights (navigational lights) to identify hazards.”
The investigator continued, “The port (red) and starboard (green) lights are required on vessels for the purpose of making the vessel visible to other mariners and (are) NOT for the purpose of identifying hazards. Hazards are identified at night by means of radar, spotlight, searchlight, or flashlight and not sidelights.”
The boat had neither a radar, spotlight nor flashlight for any occupant to identify hazards, officials said.
The warrant states he also took a shortcut into the harbor, which made him “unable to determine when he was ‘centered’ in the channel which would have set V1 on a course to avoid colliding with fixed navigational aids.”
“The reckless operation of Mr. Ross’s vessel caused the senseless death of Ms. Wildmon,” FWC Maj. Alberto Maza said in a news release. “Our thoughts remain with her family and friends during this difficult time.”
Ross was released from the Monroe County jail on a $100,000 bond, according to inmate records.