00:00:05
the lake was deep the night was dark the
00:00:08
collision
00:00:11
fatal
00:00:12
the only clues were some chips of paint
00:00:15
a tiny piece of foam and the fatal wound
00:00:20
was it enough to tell investigators
00:00:23
what happened
00:00:26
[Music]
00:00:33
[Music]
00:00:37
[Applause]
00:00:37
[Music]
00:00:50
[Music]
00:00:51
according to native american legend
00:00:54
the great spirit scratched his hand
00:00:57
across the land
00:00:59
and in doing so created
00:01:01
the finger lakes of upstate new york
00:01:04
[Music]
00:01:07
the biggest is cayuga lake long and
00:01:10
narrow and it's a popular vacation
00:01:12
destination
00:01:13
[Music]
00:01:15
a lot of people go there to go swimming
00:01:17
picnics barbecue
00:01:18
any like major functions birthdays
00:01:21
everyone goes there to the park
00:01:23
cayuga lake is crowded in the summer
00:01:26
with boating water skiing and other lake
00:01:29
activities
00:01:31
around midnight on a friday night harry
00:01:34
ewell a local celebrity decided to take
00:01:37
his new boat out on the lake for a ride
00:01:42
harry was a well-known stock car race
00:01:44
driver who went by the nickname
00:01:46
hurricane harry
00:01:48
harry loved the lake he loved to fish he
00:01:50
loved to swim
00:01:52
he loved everything about the lake
00:01:55
around 2 a.m
00:01:57
harry headed for shore in his boat so
00:01:59
two of his friends could get out and use
00:02:01
the bathroom
00:02:03
[Music]
00:02:05
18 year old nazarene raza stayed on
00:02:08
board with harry
00:02:11
i was just sitting up there by myself
00:02:13
from what i remember that's where i was
00:02:16
that's the best view so i can imagine
00:02:17
that's where i'd be sitting
00:02:19
since it was a nice night and the lake
00:02:21
was calm
00:02:22
harry didn't tie his boat to the dock
00:02:26
so it drifted while he waited for his
00:02:28
friends to return
00:02:30
[Music]
00:02:31
then they heard a loud noise
00:02:35
harry stood up and there was a crash
00:02:41
there's blood everywhere i felt like a
00:02:44
big monster or something came out of the
00:02:46
water and bit my arm off
00:02:49
harry yule was pronounced dead at the
00:02:51
scene
00:02:52
he was just 27 years old
00:02:55
he died instantly he was probably
00:02:56
standing up to to try to figure out what
00:02:58
was coming and then just got just got
00:03:00
hit in the dark by this massive object
00:03:04
[Music]
00:03:05
harry's passenger nasreen raza was
00:03:08
rushed to the hospital after losing an
00:03:10
enormous amount of blood
00:03:13
her arm was just about torn off her arm
00:03:15
was shredded
00:03:17
that doctors had to do just about
00:03:18
everything they could to try and save
00:03:20
her arm from being
00:03:22
completely amputated
00:03:24
no one claimed responsibility for the
00:03:27
crash
00:03:28
investigators were certain it was a boat
00:03:31
and began the enormous task of searching
00:03:34
for it among the 1200 boats on the lake
00:03:38
they did flyovers they rode up and down
00:03:40
the lake and the patrol boats looking
00:03:42
for signs
00:03:43
there's so many points of entrance at
00:03:45
cayuga lake that it was uncertain where
00:03:48
the other boater might have entered or
00:03:50
left from
00:03:51
and
00:03:52
it was really a guessing game at that
00:03:54
point
00:03:55
to eliminate the guesswork
00:03:58
police brought in a vessel accident
00:04:00
reconstructionist to investigate the
00:04:02
crash
00:04:03
there's no question that a terrible
00:04:05
tragedy had occurred on the lake that
00:04:07
night there's no question that the
00:04:09
person who committed it had left the
00:04:11
area and had
00:04:13
intention of turning himself in
00:04:16
but finding evidence wouldn't be easy
00:04:18
the lake was one of the deepest in the
00:04:20
country and the currents were
00:04:22
unpredictable
00:04:24
everything is continuously moving if
00:04:26
there's any debris in the water it moves
00:04:28
it drifts away it may sink to the bottom
00:04:31
the lake leaves no trace it just erases
00:04:34
any sign of what happened so you're left
00:04:36
with very little to determine
00:04:38
you know where the the perpetrator went
00:04:40
where they came from what their speed
00:04:42
was very difficult
00:04:49
the investigation of the boating
00:04:51
accident that killed harry yule and
00:04:53
severely injured nasreen raza took a
00:04:55
number of unusual twists and turns
00:04:58
when i first got there and looking at
00:05:00
this boat i was at at all struck
00:05:02
of what i was seeing
00:05:04
it looked like something had plowed
00:05:06
right through the center of the boat it
00:05:08
was like a big v-shaped hole right where
00:05:12
the bomb was supposed to be like
00:05:14
something had driven right through it
00:05:16
the victim's boat held some important
00:05:19
clues
00:05:21
there was evidence that the boat's
00:05:23
lights were off
00:05:24
when the crash occurred
00:05:26
there was no bow lights activated switch
00:05:29
was not activated
00:05:31
the anchor light was not in its
00:05:33
stanchion hull and it was plugged with a
00:05:35
rubber plug it was quite obvious that
00:05:37
the boat that got hit
00:05:39
was not lit that evening
00:05:42
there were numerous chop marks along the
00:05:44
top side of the boat that actually cut
00:05:47
through the upholstery
00:05:49
analysts realized these were from a
00:05:52
spinning propeller
00:05:54
proof that the boat actually left the
00:05:57
water and flew over the top of harry's
00:05:59
boat
00:06:01
the suspect vessel as it was traveling
00:06:02
at high rated speed tends to lift out of
00:06:04
the water and be a little bit higher
00:06:07
on impact it would launch the front of
00:06:09
the suspect vessel at a 45 degree angle
00:06:11
up into the air
00:06:14
[Music]
00:06:15
medical experts believe that the wounds
00:06:17
to nazarene raza were also caused by the
00:06:20
propeller
00:06:24
investigators found a bullet-shaped hole
00:06:27
in the forward section of harry yule's
00:06:30
boat
00:06:31
this was created by the engine of the
00:06:34
other boat
00:06:35
the bullet that punched through
00:06:37
the hull of the boat indicated to us
00:06:39
that it was an inboard outboard motor
00:06:41
also that the boat was traveling at a
00:06:42
high rate of speed for it to be able to
00:06:45
punch its way through the fiberglass and
00:06:47
continue on through and over the top of
00:06:49
the other boat
00:06:51
other information about the
00:06:52
perpetrator's vote came from an unlikely
00:06:55
source
00:06:58
harry yule's autopsy
00:07:00
the medical examiner found chips of
00:07:03
white paint in harry's wounds
00:07:06
which just gives you a picture of how
00:07:08
fast and how intense this crash must
00:07:11
have been to
00:07:13
leave such
00:07:14
evidence in the wounds
00:07:17
investigators were also intrigued by
00:07:19
another finding
00:07:21
there were no marine organisms in
00:07:23
harry's wounds this was very revealing
00:07:27
we were able to determine that that
00:07:28
vessel had either a very clean boat or
00:07:32
more likely that it was based on a
00:07:34
trailer when a boat goes on a trailer a
00:07:36
lot of times it's either easy to clean
00:07:38
and people clean them off or all the
00:07:40
organisms dry up and they wash off
00:07:43
investigators now knew they were looking
00:07:46
for a damaged white boat with a v-shaped
00:07:50
hull and an inboard outboard engine
00:07:53
they knew its propeller was broken and
00:07:56
it would be kept on a trailer and not
00:07:58
docked in the water
00:08:00
the sheriff's department released this
00:08:02
information to the media and asked
00:08:04
anyone with information to come forward
00:08:06
there was a big manhunt the the victim
00:08:09
was a local celebrity it was scary
00:08:12
because people didn't know who did this
00:08:14
or what happened so it was a very very
00:08:17
publicized incident
00:08:20
a day later
00:08:22
a caller gave police the location of a
00:08:24
damaged boat that looked like
00:08:26
it had been involved in a collision
00:08:29
and it had what appeared to be some
00:08:30
damage to the bow and some damage to the
00:08:33
one side of the boat and had some fresh
00:08:36
like compound marks in the paint on the
00:08:38
boat
00:08:39
and looking at the dashboard there was
00:08:42
what appeared to be a small drop of
00:08:43
blood
00:08:44
near the shift lever
00:08:46
near the driver's compartment
00:08:49
the boat was impounded and searched
00:08:51
everybody thought the case had been
00:08:53
solved we have our bad guy right now the
00:08:57
vessel in question is right here we have
00:08:59
it
00:09:00
but forensic tests found that the paint
00:09:03
on this boat was different from the
00:09:05
paint found in harry ewell's wounds and
00:09:08
there was no significant damage to its
00:09:11
propeller
00:09:12
in addition
00:09:13
dna tests showed the blood in the boat
00:09:16
was not hairy ewells or
00:09:18
nasarin roses
00:09:20
but forensic evidence did not
00:09:22
match it up
00:09:24
actually excluded it from being the boat
00:09:27
that we were looking for
00:09:29
so investigators resumed their search
00:09:32
knowing that each day gave the
00:09:34
perpetrator more time to hide
00:09:37
incriminating evidence
00:09:41
[Music]
00:09:43
harry yule the victim of one of the
00:09:45
worst boat crashes in the history of the
00:09:48
finger lakes was laid to rest
00:09:50
a memorial stock car race was held at
00:09:53
the local track in his honor
00:09:56
his passenger in the boat that night
00:09:59
nazarene raza survived but her arm will
00:10:02
never function properly
00:10:05
i can look at my arm and just see an
00:10:07
ugly deformed arm but there's some days
00:10:10
i look at it and i just get this wave of
00:10:12
flashback
00:10:19
oh my god someone died it could have
00:10:22
been me
00:10:23
it just feels so close to death it's
00:10:25
creepy
00:10:26
police appeal to the public through
00:10:28
newspapers radio and television asking
00:10:31
anyone with information about this crash
00:10:33
to come forward
00:10:36
finally
00:10:37
four days after the accident
00:10:40
a man called the sheriff's department
00:10:42
with a possible lead
00:10:43
he asked me what information i had
00:10:47
and i told him i said i think
00:10:48
i was a pastor on the boat to hit the
00:10:50
other boat
00:10:56
john ottenshad a construction worker
00:10:59
said he was riding in a boat on cayuga
00:11:01
lake and he said the boat hit something
00:11:04
although he didn't know what it was
00:11:08
[Music]
00:11:13
it's just it was so dark overcast
00:11:17
we couldn't we couldn't see anything in
00:11:18
the lake
00:11:19
i knew we didn't hit a log i don't think
00:11:22
it would take us out of the water as far
00:11:23
as it did
00:11:25
so we were all the way out of water so
00:11:27
we did know we hit something big
00:11:31
ottenshot claimed they circled back to
00:11:34
see what they hit but didn't see
00:11:36
anything so they drove their boat to the
00:11:38
launch removed it from the water and
00:11:41
drove home
00:11:42
[Music]
00:11:43
he identified the driver of the boat as
00:11:46
his co-worker floyd wright
00:11:48
he said he wanted wright to go to the
00:11:50
police with him
00:11:52
but wright refused
00:11:54
and he says well i i don't want to lose
00:11:56
my job i'm going to lose my job i'm
00:11:57
going to lose my house and says well
00:11:59
this guy lost his life
00:12:01
he says this is wrong
00:12:04
when police questioned floyd wright
00:12:07
he too said he didn't know what they hit
00:12:10
it was a head-on closure
00:12:12
it was little
00:12:14
we don't know because we didn't see it
00:12:16
i know because i've seen the books
00:12:19
i was there right i'm not asking i'm
00:12:21
telling you
00:12:23
heard
00:12:24
a thud and we turned around and we
00:12:26
looked and we didn't see nothing and we
00:12:28
didn't hear nothing
00:12:30
and uh
00:12:31
so
00:12:32
we figured we better get out of the
00:12:33
water you know before because we didn't
00:12:35
know what damage we had
00:12:38
i find it very difficult to believe that
00:12:40
wright could not hear the streams of the
00:12:42
female passenger in mr ewell's boat we
00:12:45
have witnesses on shore you know several
00:12:47
hundred feet away who could hear her
00:12:49
screams for help
00:12:51
wright admitted that he was drinking
00:12:52
that day but insisted
00:12:54
he wasn't intoxicated
00:12:58
i had probably about five or six beers
00:13:00
for the whole day i went on water matter
00:13:02
of fact i had pepsi most of the time
00:13:06
with a warrant
00:13:07
police searched wright's property
00:13:10
and found the boat
00:13:12
in his barn
00:13:13
you could see readily see that repairs
00:13:16
had been made to the boat the bondo and
00:13:18
the material on the boat was not flush
00:13:20
with the original fiberglass
00:13:23
and it had been spray painted
00:13:24
areas have been spray painted white
00:13:27
if there had been blood or any other
00:13:30
evidence on the boat's hull
00:13:32
it had already been removed and
00:13:34
repainted
00:13:35
the propeller had also been removed
00:13:38
but was still in the barn broken beyond
00:13:41
repair
00:13:42
that
00:13:43
propeller
00:13:45
all three times of it showed extensive
00:13:47
damage denting and tearing of the metal
00:13:50
there was no blood or human tissue on
00:13:53
the propeller nor did investigators
00:13:55
expect to find any since the water would
00:13:58
have washed it away
00:14:00
but amazingly
00:14:02
the propeller had a tiny crack
00:14:06
and inside
00:14:07
was a my new piece of what looked like
00:14:10
foam
00:14:11
it was nothing short of a miracle that
00:14:13
the tiny piece of foam had stuck in the
00:14:15
prop when you consider the dynamic
00:14:16
forces going on
00:14:18
trace evidence expert ron stanbro
00:14:20
analyzed the material under a microscope
00:14:24
i did not have very much sample to work
00:14:26
with but it was more than enough for the
00:14:28
analysis that we were required to do
00:14:31
under high magnification
00:14:34
different types of foam exhibit
00:14:36
noticeably different structures
00:14:39
as a result one kind of foam can be
00:14:41
distinguished from another
00:14:45
the foam from the propeller looked very
00:14:47
similar to the foam padding from the
00:14:49
seat in harry yule's boat
00:14:52
so stanbro
00:14:54
went a step further
00:14:56
using a process known as fourier
00:14:58
transform infrared
00:15:01
it's shining a infrared light through
00:15:03
that substance and the molecules within
00:15:06
that substance are stretching and
00:15:07
vibrating
00:15:09
and then we're measuring the absorbance
00:15:11
of that infrared light in that sample
00:15:14
this provided a chemical fingerprint of
00:15:17
the polyurethane in both samples
00:15:21
they were indistinguishable one from the
00:15:22
other so we could conclude from that
00:15:25
that they're made up of the same
00:15:26
substance and therefore they could have
00:15:28
common origin
00:15:30
but this wasn't conclusive
00:15:33
so stanbro compared the paint chips from
00:15:35
harry's body to the paint on floyd's
00:15:38
boat
00:15:39
they were heated to 800 degrees
00:15:41
centigrade and vaporized so that their
00:15:44
chemical components could be measured by
00:15:47
a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer
00:15:51
again
00:15:52
the chemical composition of both samples
00:15:56
was identical
00:15:57
i would never go so far as to say that
00:15:59
they were a perfect match i would say
00:16:01
that they were indistinguishable which
00:16:03
would tell me then that these paint
00:16:04
chips from the body could have common
00:16:06
origin
00:16:08
prosecutors now had enough forensic
00:16:10
evidence to link floyd wright's boat to
00:16:13
the hit and run accident
00:16:19
based on the forensic evidence
00:16:22
prosecutors say they know what happened
00:16:24
on the night of the fatal accident
00:16:28
after taking a ride around the lake
00:16:30
harry yule stopped at the dock to let
00:16:33
two of his passengers use the bathroom
00:16:35
[Music]
00:16:40
for reasons unknown
00:16:42
harry didn't tie up his boat so it
00:16:45
drifted into the boating lane without
00:16:48
its running lights on
00:16:51
[Music]
00:16:55
floyd wright and john ottenshot admitted
00:16:58
they were drinking but claim they
00:17:00
weren't intoxicated
00:17:02
they said they didn't see harry's boat
00:17:04
because its lights weren't on
00:17:10
[Music]
00:17:14
the propeller tore through nasreen's arm
00:17:17
and the boat's upholstery
00:17:19
[Music]
00:17:21
the hull struck harry in the head
00:17:23
killing him instantly and leaving paint
00:17:26
chips on his body
00:17:29
some think floyd turned around to see
00:17:31
what he hit and not only saw the damage
00:17:35
but also heard nasreen screams
00:17:38
floyd wright and john ottenshot deny
00:17:40
this
00:17:42
wright took his boat out of the water
00:17:44
and stored it in his barn so he could
00:17:46
begin to make repairs
00:17:48
he always claimed he didn't know he hit
00:17:51
harry yule's boat
00:17:53
they knew exactly what they had hit they
00:17:55
absolutely knew there's no way that you
00:17:57
could hit a full-size boat and not know
00:18:00
that you've hit something significant or
00:18:02
think that you've hit a log or driftwood
00:18:05
it's ridiculous
00:18:06
they would have had their lights on
00:18:08
on that boat
00:18:10
we would have seen it
00:18:11
i can guarantee it that we would have
00:18:13
seen it
00:18:14
there was no way to know what floyd
00:18:16
wright's blood alcohol level was that
00:18:18
night
00:18:20
in new york state
00:18:21
this severely limited the prosecutor's
00:18:24
case
00:18:25
you have to show that the accident was
00:18:27
causally
00:18:28
related to the drinking there has to be
00:18:30
that close connection new york requires
00:18:32
it so just the fact that he had a few
00:18:34
drinks throughout the course of the day
00:18:36
doesn't necessarily mean that is the
00:18:38
cause of the death you have to you have
00:18:40
to prove beyond reasonable doubt that
00:18:42
that's that's the connection being
00:18:44
intoxicated should it be a way out of
00:18:47
being held responsible
00:18:49
the fact that he was able to run
00:18:52
from the scene and he wasn't charged
00:18:54
with anything related to intoxication
00:18:57
just makes me question whether our laws
00:19:00
have a loophole in allowing someone to
00:19:02
leave the scene of a crime so that they
00:19:04
can't be charged with being drunk at
00:19:06
that time
00:19:08
coincidentally wright's automobile
00:19:10
driver's license was suspended at the
00:19:13
time due to an arrest for driving while
00:19:16
intoxicated
00:19:17
[Music]
00:19:19
floyd wright was charged with tampering
00:19:21
with physical evidence and failing to
00:19:24
report an accident
00:19:26
he pled not guilty at the trial
00:19:28
but was convicted and sentenced to the
00:19:30
maximum of four years in prison
00:19:33
and that's like the issue with me you
00:19:35
hit me and you didn't help me just left
00:19:37
me there to bleed to death
00:19:39
that bothers me
00:19:41
a lot and the thing is
00:19:44
physically yeah i'm hurt but i hate to
00:19:46
like live with the fact that i have to
00:19:48
like
00:19:49
hate someone my whole life that's not a
00:19:51
good feeling for me
00:19:52
feels like a heavy part in your chest
00:19:54
feel something like that for someone is
00:19:56
not good i don't like to feel that but i
00:19:59
do
00:20:01
in return for his testimony at the grand
00:20:03
jury
00:20:04
john ottenshad was given immunity from
00:20:07
prosecution
00:20:09
he now admits that he and floyd were
00:20:13
intoxicated
00:20:14
i'll say
00:20:16
legally
00:20:17
we were probably drunk we got a dwi
00:20:22
if i got pulled over on the way home or
00:20:24
we got pulled over on the way home
00:20:26
probably
00:20:27
definitely
00:20:28
it was the paint chips
00:20:30
the accident reconstruction and
00:20:33
particularly
00:20:34
the tiny piece of foam trapped in the
00:20:37
crack of the propeller that proved the
00:20:39
case
00:20:40
the most damaging part of the evidence
00:20:42
was that piece of foam that had stayed
00:20:44
on floyd wright's boat from harry's boat
00:20:48
told everybody that that was the boat
00:20:50
that that hit and killed harry it's
00:20:52
amazing what science can do
00:20:54
it's amazing otherwise it would have
00:20:56
been he said she said
00:20:57
you know
00:20:59
but
00:21:00
it's amazing what science can do
00:21:03
[Music]
00:21:13
[Music]
00:21:24
so
00:21:26
[Music]
00:21:26
[Applause]
00:21:30
[Music]
00:21:41
you
