Multiple July 4 Boating Accidents Reported In Alabama

The Fourth of July is a popular holiday for lake-goers, but unfortunately this year, it also involved multiple boating and swimming accidents. Four people have been confirmed dead and one is still missing as a result of these accidents.

A man and a teenager were killed in a boating accident on Jordan Lake in Elmore County July 4. Marine Patrol Capt. Gary Buchanan of ALEA’s Marine Patrol said state lawmen responded to the crash around 10 p.m. Marine Patrol officials on Friday night identified the victims as Clay Jackson, 26, and Travis House, 17. Jackson is from Deatsville, and House from Marbury. The victims' bodies were recovered Saturday.

Two boating accidents were reported on Smith Lake over the weekend. One, the evening of July 4, involved a two-boat collision that resulted in an arrest and a woman still missing. Kelsey Starling, a teacher at Birmingham's Tuggle Elementary School, disappeared July 4 after a boat in which she was a passenger collided with another boat Thursday evening. Starling was the passenger of a boat driven by 23-year-old William Jackson Fite of Decatur. He was booked into the Winston County Jail early Friday on a charge of boating under the influence.

Another Smith Lake accident, which occurred July 6, claimed the life of a 12-year-old girl. A 14-year-old girl in the same accident was hospitalized. The cause of the crash is still being investigated.

Sunday, a swimmer on Lay Lake was reported missing after storms pushed his boat away. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency reported that the body of James Patton Hill, 25, from Wilsonville, was recovered Monday morning.

Earlier in the week, a man was fishing in Cosby Lake in Clay, Ala., and did not return home from his fishing excursion. Police searched for 36-year-old Russell Patterson all day July 3, after finding his overturned kayak in the water. Patterson's body was discovered Wednesday afternoon.