Man charged with misdemeanor BWI after passenger fell off boat in Ozarks and was found dead

An Iowa man has been charged with misdemeanor BWI after one of his passengers fell out of a boat at the Lake of the Ozarks and was later found dead.

On May 31, 2017, the Missouri State Highway Patrol was notified of a missing person at the 6-mile mark on the main channel of the Lake of the Ozarks.

The man that was driving the boat was Jacob Brick, 20, of Iowa. Brick told troopers that he was traveling upstream, 15 to 20 miles per hour, when the victim, Jesse Blakely, 20, fell into the water. Blakely was allegedly sitting on the port side of the boat, stood up, and was walking to the stern when the boat hit a wake and he fell out.

A third person in the boat was sitting at the bow during the incident.

The trooper speaking with Brick said his breath smelled of intoxicants, his speech was slurred, his eyes were bloodshot and he was crying when the Trooper got to the scene.

Blakely’s body was found by a resident in a cove at the 5.7 mile mark on June 10, 2017.