Law&Crime Sidebar - Disturbing Details of Texas Mom’s Horrifying Boat Killing

Episode Date: July 9, 2024

Jerri MacMeekin was celebrating her first Fourth of July as a mother on Lake Conroe when her life was tragically cut short. MacMeekin fell overboard after a horrifying boat crash and it took two hours for her lifeless body to be discovered. Once Texas police began investigating, they found two people allegedly at fault for her death — one being her brother-in-law. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber breaks down the disturbing details of her death.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. A new mom to a baby girl tragically drowned after she fell overboard during a 4th of July boating party. Her brother-in-law and his friend were both arrested and charged. So how did happened? Who's at fault? Could the charges be upgraded? But we're going to break down the case with maritime attorney Michael Winkleman. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. What was supposed to be a fun celebration on the water over the holiday weekend, an activity that I imagine many of us do over the summer turned into an absolute

tragedy. And now the question becomes who's at fall? On July 4th, 31-year-old Jerry McMeekin was out on a pontoon boat in Lake Conroe, which is north of Houston, and she was with her husband, Brandon. Now, there's a bit of mixed reporting on who was actually driving this boat, whether it was Jerry's brother-in-law, Brandon's brother, Kyle Dean McMeekin, or their friend Shane Everett and Aboli. What we do know is that Kyle and Shane were capting two different boats. And also on one of the boats was Kyle's girlfriend, Aubrey Curlin. We'll get more to her in a second.

Now, at around nine in the evening, just as it was getting dark, the fireworks were about to start. The boats allegedly collided with another, and Jerry fell overboard. She wasn't wearing a life preserver. Kyle's girlfriend, again, Aubrey Curlin, immediately jumped in to help Jerry, but both women soon disappeared from sight. So Kyle and Shane, they dived in to help find them. Now, the Montgomery County Marine Division, Texas Parks and Wildlife, local fire departments, other first responders, They arrived within minutes of receiving a distress call. In fact, Captain Miguel Rosario was one of the officials who was there.

About 9 p.m. we responded to a lake rescue where a female had went overboard on a boat. Initially, our call notes stated that one female had fallen over and three other people were in the water searching for her. On our arrival to the scene, we did find two boats that were traveling together. Currently, those two males were arrested for boating while intoxicated. We pulled everybody out of the water. Okay. Okay, go ahead. Earlier this evening about 9 p.m.

We responded to a lake rescue where our notes indicated that a female had fallen overboard, and we had three other people in the water that we're trying to locate her. Upon our arrival to the scene, we were able to find two of the males that had jumped overboard to save her. And at that point, we began looking for two females. They ended up pulling Kyle and Shane out. and Shane out of the water, safe and sound, and then police used side scan sonar to search the lake for Jerry. And as they were scanning, they find Aubrey Curlin alive and well. One female that had gotten off to help find her, we did locate her about an hour later, safe on a dock. So Aubrey

had swum about three quarters of a mile to get to safety, but unfortunately for Jerry McMeekin, she wasn't as lucky. And then about two hours later, unfortunately, we did recover the female that fell overboard. Involved in that search was precinct one, Texas Parks and Wildlife, ESD1, and ESD2 fire departments. Yeah, after several long hours of searching, her body was finally located and retrieved at 11.30 p.m. by a team of rescue and recovery divers with the North Montgomery County Fire Department, and Jerry was pronounced dead at the scene. Talking accidents like this, tragedies like this, even potential litigation,

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pay them if you win. So if you're injured, you can easily start a claim at for the people.com slash LC sidebar. It was a tragic end to Jerry and Brandon's love story. They married in 2021 after spending many years dating. And just by the way, seven months ago, they'd welcomed a baby daughter, Georgia Grace. So incredibly, incredibly sad. Now, the Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligin said that these are the perils of being on a boat drinking all day, the perils of being on a crowded lake, these are the

things we hope to avoid every summer. And for the people involved in Jerry's drowning, it doesn't end with Jerry's death. Currently, those two males were arrested for voting all intoxicated. Game wardens with the Texas Parks of Wildlife arrested Shane Anaboli and Kyle

MacMacon. They were held at the Montgomery County Jail until McMeekin was released on a $3,000 bond. Anaboli was freed on $1,000 bond and the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office would not say if the men would face additional charges due to Jerry McMeekin's death. But prosecutor said that the investigation is ongoing. So with that being said, I want to bring in maritime attorney Michael Winkleman to get his thoughts on this accident. Michael really sad case. But it's an interesting one for a

number of reasons. And I actually want to start out by asking. We obviously have talked a lot about drunk driving incidents. But are the laws different when you're talking about? about operating a boat as opposed to a car? Not really, no, Jesse. I mean, you have the same principles in play. You can't drive while intoxicated. You can't boat well intoxicated. So instead of it being a DUI, it's a BUI.

And unfortunately, doing what I do for a living as a maritime attorney, the vast majority of boating accidents occur with some level of alcohol involvement. Certainly sounds like that was the case here. This is the reason I'd never go on the water on any kind of a major holiday, particularly July 4th. Because there's just when you mix in boating with alcohol, it's just this is sadly what happens. I mean, it really sounds like this was a tragic accident.

But there's no doubt in my mind that it was 100% preventable. Let's get into that. By the way, before we even get into it, you know, your profession, you must see this a ton because according to data, my understanding is from the Texas Parks and Wildlife, 172 people were arrested for boating while drunk in 2023, 56 of them over the July 4th holiday weekend. So you see this happening a lot, right? Oh, absolutely. And I would have actually guessed the number of was far higher than that. And I'm from Miami, Florida, born and raised, and that's where my practice, our headquarters are.

But we have thousands of boating under the influence charges that are levied on every major holiday, which is the primary reason why I just won't set foot at sea on those kind of days. It's just too much risk. Yeah. And now we have a life lost. And we're trying to understand why this happened. And you mentioned whether it was preventable. So now we have two men who were arrested for boating while intoxicated. Talk to me about the legal ramifications. are of that, because my understanding it's a misdemeanor, right? Certainly that would vary by state. It is my understanding it's a misdemeanor.

It could very easily become a felony, though. If there's certain aggravating circumstances, I don't see any of them in play at this point. But this is clearly an accident. You had really either two families or friends on different vessels. A preventable accident doesn't look like there was any level of really criminality to it. I do think there will be likely some charges related to the drinking and voting. I would be surprised if it goes any further than that because this is a fact. family that's really already suffered enough in just a few days since the incident occurred.

I can completely understand that. The tragedy of it, what the family's lost, completely understand. But having said that, that hasn't prevented prosecutions in the past if it's criminally negligent homicide or if it's manslaughter. Why do you say there's no aggravating factors here? Well, again, I don't know of any yet, Jesse. This is so early. If we were doing this a month from now, we'd had more circumstances. I think there might be something else in play. I guess what? I guess my question is, what would you be looking for that? could be an aggravating factor. How much alcohol was consumed, how long they were out there, were they out there since

11 a.m. and the person drinking blew a 0.3 to the point where he shouldn't even been walking. I mean, these would be the type of circumstances that I think would be aggravating, you know, whether or not they were using any kind of basic safety, life, obviously there weren't a life jacket since Jerry wasn't wearing one, but things of that nature. But I don't see any of that at this point, Okay, so since this is very similar to car accidents, if both of them are drunk, but they, you know, through the analysis, you can determine one rammed into the other, why were they both arrested? Why were they both charged the way that they were charged? Well, again, I can only speculate because obviously I wasn't the prosecuting authority or anyone related to it, but it would have to have been that they were both visibly intoxicated and or were honest and frank about the fact that they had been consuming alcohol. and that in and of itself was enough to have taken them in the custody overnight. The fact that there was a fatality involved from the moment that the police came on scene,

I think that gives it an extra reasons for the police of having taken them into custody. So that would be my likely thoughts as to why there was a difference between both them being charged and at different levels in terms of the bond. So again, I believe this is a Class B misdemeanor up to six months in prison. The fact that they have different bonds, right? So does that signify to you at this stage, one was potentially more culpable than the other? And again, when we're talking about culpability, do you think that there could be any legal action, a civil action, a lawsuit filed as a result of this? Well, so the first part of it is why there was different bond amounts.

My primary guess would be that they determined one vessel was more at fault than the other. So the person who was charged or had the $3,000 bond they thought was likely at fault, therefore had a higher bond amount. The only of the reason I would see a disparity between the two was with one, for some reason, was just visibly way more intoxicated than the other one. That would be my primary reasoning as for the difference. And in terms of legal liability, remember, for me, I'm not a criminal attorney. I'm a civil attorney. I'm a maritime civil attorney. So the question is whether there will be any negligence lawsuits between all the parties that are in play, really, the estate of Jerry.

And at this being, I think it's probably too early to tell. Generally speaking, when you have family like this, I don't know that they would be looking to bring litigation against each other. But I don't know, were these vessels that were owned by these two parties, or were these vessels that were rented by these two parties? If they were rented, then you could have potential litigation against the renter of the boat in terms of whether or not they gave them proper training, things of that nature, whether or not there was proper safety equipment in play. But generally speaking, if you didn't have two families in play, I would think there would be litigation. But because you have such a close tie between the two of them, I think it lessens the likelihood of there being civil litigation related to the incident. So again, we don't know at this point if anything like that will happen, but if I'm thinking about Brandon and I'm thinking about now he has lost his wife, the mother of his child, does it

matter of whether or not he was intoxicated? Does it matter or not whether he knew the people on the boat were intoxicated? Because I imagine that could be a defense, right? You made a conscious decision to go on that boat knowing the risks, right? Is that something that would have to be part of the analysis? Well, I think you could have what would be called an argument of comparative negligence against Jerry or her husband that they knowingly choose to go on a vessel at night where there's drinking involved, didn't take the extra step of wearing a life jacket. In my experience, a lot of people don't wear life jackets, especially when they're on a pontoon boats, which don't go particularly fast, I know if I'm on a vessel at night, particularly when

traveling at any kind of speed, I'm wearing a life jacket, my family are wearing life jackets. So there certainly would be arguments in comparative negligence. Of course, they're all speculative at this point. But in terms of the fact does it really matter legally that there was friends or relatives, not really. If someone's at fault and you file a lawsuit against them and you prove that they were at fault, then theoretically someone could be on the hook for all the damages related to Jerry losing your life and baby George are not having a mother for the rest of her life. And by the way, going back to the criminal aspect, I mentioned it's a misdemeanor. You know,

if there was any incidents in the past where either of them had been drinking while driving or drinking while operating a boat, that would obviously work against their favor, could upgrade it to a felony as well, I believe so. But I imagine from a legal point of view, that could hurt them as well, if they have anything in the past. I guess the question is, when we're talking about the prevalence of this and how often this happens and how often happens, like you said, on holidays, has there been any discussion about changing the law for more stricter penalties for this kind of behavior? There's been heavy conversations about that in Florida for years, if not decades. And every time someone passes away at sea from a preventive

incident. Absolutely. They look to increased charges, change charges, increase changing. There's been similar efforts like that in the past in Texas. It's funny, though, with Texas and Florida, you have two very, I don't want to say conservative states, but ones where maybe there's less regulations that you would in a place like California. California generally has more strict voting laws in terms of being able to actually pilot a vessel. So you would hope that when tragedy strikes like this, the silver line, the only perhaps silver lining can be that it raises awareness about it, leads to greater regulation, greater training. which just hopefully prevents it from happening again in the future.

And by the way, I was talking a little bit about the efforts that First Responders were using to try to recover these, try to rescue the people that have fallen in the water, talking about using scans, sonar and things like that. This is a, this is a, I imagine trying to rescue people in that kind of environment is particularly difficult, right? I mean, what do we know about using this kind of technology and how difficult it is to ultimately try to rescue people? I actually think the search and rescue efforts, and I applaud the first responders who were able to locate the body and obviously rescued the people that were in the water. Comparatively, this would have been a relatively easy operation because you're in a limited area. And I compare that to, unfortunately, I'm an expert in people going off of cruise ships and being in the Caribbean where you have this vast multi-mile area where the Coast Guard with the most top-not church and rescue people in the world that are in play, how hard that is. That's literally finding a needle in a haystack.

Here I think it's very different than that, but yes, the technology is fantastic. I think the first responders are fantastic, but comparatively compared to what it could have been in so many of the stories that we hear about cruise ship overboards, I think this was a far simpler task. Just a really sad case, tragic case, and as the more we hear about it, we hear how this could have been prevented. And we think about the loss of her life, we think about the loss of Jerry's life, we think about the fact that her daughter will grow up without her, her husband will live a life.

without her and it's senseless it again shouldn't have happened but um michael appreciate you taking the time thank you so much for giving your expertise on it and hopefully we don't see another case like this anytime soon for sure thank you jesse nice to see you good seeing you all right everybody that's all we have for you right now here on sidebar thank you so much for joining us and as always please subscribe on apple podcast spotify youtube wherever you get your podcasts i'm jesse weber speak to you next time You can binge all episodes of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.