Two grandparents died when their boat capsized Monday afternoon on Lewis Creek in Charlotte, according to the Vermont State Police. A young grandchild accompanying them survived.
Authorities identified the victims as Martha Illick, 70, and Terrence Dinnan, 71, of Lewis Creek Road in Charlotte. Illick, known as Marty, served as executive director of the Lewis Creek Association, a conservation organization dedicated to protecting the body of water and its surroundings.
The bodies of the deceased were taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Burlington for autopsies to determine the cause and manner of death, according to state police spokesperson Adam Silverman.
Authorities received a call Monday afternoon from a fisherman who discovered two bodies in the water, Silverman said. First responders located the victims and learned that a 3-year-old child was missing, he said.
An extensive search was launched to find the child. After a little more than an hour, the 3-year-old was found in a car at Illick’s and Dinnan’s house, Silverman said.
Investigators were able to piece together that the child and his grandparents had gone for an outing in a small boat on Lewis Creek. The boat capsized for unknown reasons, Silverman said, sending all three into the water.
“The child was able to get out. He was wearing a life vest,” Silverman said. “We don’t know the exact circumstances of how he was able to get out of the water.”
Illick and Dinnan were not wearing life jackets.
“He essentially went to a place that he knew,” Silverman said. “He just went back to the grandparents’ house and got back in the car.”
The child was not hurt and was reunited with his parents at the scene, Silverman said.
“It’s certainly a very sad and tragic event,” he said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Child survives Charlotte boating accident that kills grandparents.