Miami man charged with manslaughter in 2020 Bimini boat crash that killed couple
Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend two years ago, a young Miami couple were passengers on a motorboat when it crashed at high speed into a rock formation off the coast of Bimini, Bahamas.
Javier Perez, 29, was found on the jagged rock, but Carolyn Alvarez, 26, disappeared into the dark water.
On Thursday, federal prosecutors charged the Miami man at the helm of the boat, Josbel Fernandez Echevarria, 36, with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of Perez and Alvarez. Fernandez had his first appearance in Miami federal court Thursday and was granted a $250,000 personal surety bond.
His defense attorney, Philip Reizenstein, disputed the charges, saying “this is a tragic accident and not a crime.”
Fernandez was operating the pleasure boat at high speed when it crashed into the well-charted rock formation known as Turtle Rock on July 2, 2020, according to an indictment filed by prosecutor Thomas Watts-FitzGerald.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has jurisdiction of the case because Fernandez’s boat is owned by a U.S. citizen. The vessel is also registered in the United States. The boating incident occurred within “the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States,” according to the indictment.
On the first day of a long-awaited vacation in Bimini two years ago, Perez and Alvarez went straight to the hotel pool and beach, where they soon struck up a conversation with another young couple from Miami, according to a Herald story that included interviews with the victims’ family members.
The pair, Fernandez and Violeta Khouri, invited them for an evening trip on Fernandez’s 32-foot Everglades boat. But by sunrise the next day, Perez would be found dead and Alvarez would be lost at sea.
More than one month after the boat wreck, exactly what happened remained an agonizing mystery for the Perez and Alvarez families. After they visited Bimini to make inquiries and examine the wrecked boat, they put the blame squarely on Fernandez, who they believed may have been drunk at the time and then delayed calling authorities for a critical period after their loved ones had been flung overboard.
An acquaintance on Bimini named Stanley Stuart said he told the family and police investigators that Fernandez summoned him and another man to the damaged boat before authorities arrived. He said the boat, despite a jagged hole in the bow, somehow came off the rocks and had managed to travel a few miles from the wreck site.
Stuart, in an interview with the Herald, said that he also told Bahamian police that Fernandez was slurring his words in the boat and “acting aggressive.”
“He was drunk,” Stuart said. “He was wasted.”
An initial police report from the Bahamian Royal Police obtained by the Herald also “collected an assortment of alcoholic beverages for evidential purposes” from the salvaged boat. Fernandez was not charged with any crime in the Bahamas, and the initial police report did not provide any details about his behavior or whether any sobriety tests were conducted after the boat crash.
Liz Alvarez, Carolyn’s mother, said she believed Fernandez delayed summoning official rescue help.
“If you don’t have anything to hide, you call authorities for help, not your friends,” Liz said at the time. “Obviously, he was drinking and he didn’t want to get into trouble.”
Said Jorge Perez, Javier’s brother: “The fact that they didn’t render aid at the moment of the accident. That was precious time lost.”
Lawyers for Fernandez told the Herald in August 2020 that their client wasn’t intoxicated and did everything he could to save Perez and Alvarez.
This story was originally published June 16, 2022 at 7:57 PM.
