Two charged a year after 15-year-old girl killed while wakeboarding in Biscayne Bay
Two boaters were charged with misdemeanor careless boating in the May 2024 death of a 15-year-old Miami girl who was struck by a boat while she and a friend were wakeboarding behind a yacht in a congested area of Biscayne Bay.
Ella Adler, a Ransom Everglades School student, and another girl were being towed by a captain of a 42-foot yacht off Key Biscayne’s Nixon Beach on May 11, 2024, when she was hit by a 42-foot Boston Whaler driven by Carlos Guillermo ‘Bill’ Alonso.
Alonso, 79, drove his boat back to his Coral Gables home after striking Adler; his attorneys maintain he never knew he hit her.
READ MORE: Gables man was piloting boat that struck and killed Ransom Everglades student: FWC report
The accident happened on a Saturday afternoon, a time when waters around Nixon Beach are filled with boaters and people riding on personal watercraft. It’s one of the busiest spots in South Florida’s waterways on a weekend and has been the site of high-profile fatalities over the years.
The captain towing the girls was reprimanded for not having a lookout while two girls were wakeboarding at the same time behind the yacht, and three counts related to not doing enough to prevent a collision. Alonso was cited for not having a lookout and not avoiding a collision.
The tragedy made international headlines because Ella was the granddaughter of Michael Adler, then the U.S. ambassador to Belgium. Adler was formerly president of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and vice chair of the Florida International University Board of Trustees.
Prosecutors charged Alonso with two counts of careless boating on May 20, court records show.
Edmund Richard Hartley, 31, the yacht captain towing Adler and the other girl, was charged on May 20 with four counts of careless boating, including one count for not having a lookout to keep an eye on the girls.
If convicted, they would each face 60 days in jail and a $500 fine for each of the criminal charges.
Yacht owned by biotech millionaire
The 2017 Hanse Fjord yacht that Hartley captained is owned by Jonathan Rothberg, a biotech multimillionaire who bought a $23.5-million home off the Venetian Causeway in 2021.
Alonso and Hartley pleaded not guilty on May 21. A trial is set for June 30. They are co-defendants.
Alonso’s attorney, Lauren Field Krasnoff, said the FWC told her that her client was not at fault, so she’s surprised by the charges.
“What happened last year was an absolute tragedy. But it was not Bill’s fault. Bill is an experienced and cautious boater and that is how he acted that day. FWC explicitly told us that they did not find Bill’s actions caused the accident. Because of that, we were very surprised to learn about the citations,” Field Krasnoff said Tuesday night.
“We understand that FWC is under a lot of pressure from recent events. But now, after telling us that Bill was not to blame, we will need to get to the bottom of this charging decision a year later.”
On the yacht with Hartley were Emma Roberts, 30; Sebastian Pearce, 21; seven 15-year-olds and three 14-year-olds. Ella was one of the 15-year-olds.
One of the girls on the boat was Rothberg’s daughter, a classmate of Ella’s at Ransom in Coconut Grove. Her 15th birthday was the day before the boat outing, according to the FWC’s initial report.
It’s not clear who hired Hartley to captain the vessel.
The London mariner studied at the United Kingdom Sailing Academy and at the Glasgow Maritime Academy in Scotland, according to his Facebook profile.
The page also says he works in the superyachts industry. A source close to the investigation told the Herald that Hartley is certified through the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in the United Kingdom to captain a ship up to 3,000 gross tons.
Initial concern over hit-and-run crash
In the days immediately after the accident, the situation appeared to be a possible hit-and-run crash.
Ella was struck and killed on a Saturday afternoon. However, FWC officers did not locate Alonso’s boat until Tuesday when they found the 2020 Boston Whaler with four outboard motors docked behind his home in the Hammock Oaks neighborhood, a gated Gables community near Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.
Alonso’s attorneys released security camera footage shot from behind his home that showed him heading out that day on his boat, and then calmly returning later in the afternoon. His attorneys said his demeanor upon returning proved he had no idea he had just hit someone on the water.
This story was originally published June 3, 2025 at 5:44 PM.
