HOMER, Alaska — For the first time 6 News is hearing from the survivors of a boat that capsized off the coast of Alaska claiming the lives of a family from Troy in a presumptive death hearing.
On Saturday, Aug. 3, David Maynard, 42, his wife Mary, 37, and their two sons, Colton, 11, and Brantley, 7, were aboard a 28-foot aluminum boat with four others when it capsized 16 miles west of Homer Spit around 7 p.m. The four others survived, but the Maynard's were never found, despite search efforts by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Presumptive death hearings are held when someone is believed to be dead but there is no direct proof of their death. In the hearing, six jury members determined the family of four is presumed to have died as a result of accidental drowning.
6 News obtained audio files of the hearing from Sep. 19. In the hearing we learned what the survivors say happened.
"They were just gone," one of the survivors we are choosing not to identify said. "It had to have been, I mean, it was 10 minutes, maybe 10 minutes from us having fun to the boat. The boat rolled like this tipped on its side and then the engines went down and just the nose up."
The captain of the boat told the jury while they were out on the water, one of the engines had sputtered. He saw another fishing boat nearby, so he anchored the boat.
"At one point. David asked me, got my attention and he pointed to the back corner of the deck where there was a drain hole for water that would come up get on deck," the captain said. "He pointed to it and he said, is that normal? I said no, at that point, went into the cabin and I just got ready to fire up the engine to pull anchor, but engines wouldn't start and I kept trying."
At one point in his testimony the captain said he didn't know where the Maynard family was while he was saving his own family. He then testified that he tried to reach inside the boat window but the boat was sinking too fast while he was looking for the Maynards.
The Coast Guard searched for more than 30 hours. They added the Maynards had a functional survival time of 7.1 hours and a cold survival time of 9.7 hours.
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