Crime

Investigators add details about boat that killed Ransom Everglades student by Key Biscayne

Ella Riley Adler, 15, was killed in a hit-and-run boat crash off Key Biscayne, Florida, on Saturday, May 11, 2024.
Ella Riley Adler, 15, was killed in a hit-and-run boat crash off Key Biscayne, Florida, on Saturday, May 11, 2024. Levitt-Weinstein Blasberg-Rubin-Zilbert Memorial Chapel

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Ransom Everglades student killed in Key Biscayne hit-and-run boat crash

Ella Adler, a 15-year-old Ransom Everglades student, was killed in a hit-and-run boat crash near Key Biscayne’s Nixon Beach on May 11. During the investigation, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission tracked down the boat and alleged driver.

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Investigators have updated their description of the hit-and-run boat that ran over a 15-year-old girl Saturday who was water skiing near Key Biscayne’s Nixon Beach.

It’s a center console boat with a light blue hull, multiple white outboard engines and may have blue or dark blue bottom paint, according to statement released Monday afternoon by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Investigators’ preliminary probe has uncovered that around 4:30 p.m., Ella Adler fell in the water while water skiing and was struck by another boat.

The law-enforcement agency for boating accidents said Monday the boater was still at large, but it was making “significant progress” in its investigation.

READ MORE: Girl killed in hit-and-run boat crash off Key Biscayne was a Ransom Everglades student

Ella was a freshman at Ransom Everglades School in Coconut Grove and a ballerina in more than 100 productions of “The Nutcracker,” at the Miami City Ballet. She was the granddaughter of Michael Adler, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium. Michael Adler was formerly president of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and vice chair of the Florida International University Board of Trustees.

READ MORE: ‘The world has been robbed’: Family mourns girl killed in boat crash near Key Biscayne

“...You were taken from us way to soon, and the world has been robbed of all the things you could have achieved,” her father Matthew Adler said in a letter read at Ella’s funeral service Monday morning at Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach. “But you will always be here with us and your friends and family will carry your energy and spirit forever.”

Anyone with information about the incident — or with video footage from the scene — should call the Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922) or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS (8477). Crime Stoppers and FWC are offering $5,000 and Ella’s family $10,000 for any information leading to an arrest.

READ MORE: Girl killed near Key Biscayne’s Nixon Beach. The famed attraction isn’t a stranger to danger

This story was originally published May 13, 2024 at 3:56 PM.

Grethel Aguila
Miami Herald
Grethel covers courts and the criminal justice system for the Miami Herald. She graduated from the University of Florida (Go Gators!), speaks Spanish and Arabic and loves animals, traveling, basketball and good storytelling. Grethel also attends law school part time.
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Ransom Everglades student killed in Key Biscayne hit-and-run boat crash

Ella Adler, a 15-year-old Ransom Everglades student, was killed in a hit-and-run boat crash near Key Biscayne’s Nixon Beach on May 11. During the investigation, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission tracked down the boat and alleged driver.