A boat has been seized in connection with a weekend hit-and-run accident that killed Ella Adler in Biscayne Bay, officials confirmed to Forbes on Tuesday, the latest in an ongoing investigation into the death of the Florida teenager who has been remembered as a "bright young soul” after she died Saturday.
Boats ply the waters of Biscayne Bay with the Miami skyline see in the distance.
Adler, who was wearing a life jacket, was water skiing with friends when she fell into the water close to a sandbar near Nixon Beach, about 7 miles from downtown Miami, and was then hit by a boat that didn't stop.
Officials immediately asked the public for help in finding the boat and offered $20,000 for information leading to the arrest of the hit-and-run suspect, though it was unclear at the time whether the boater knew they had hit the teenager.
Witnesses described the boat to Florida Fish and Wildlife officials, who identified its owner and seized it Tuesday, the agency said in a statement—the owner is cooperating with authorities and no arrest has been made.
The investigation is ongoing and representatives with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are still asking witnesses or anyone with video footage of the incident to come forward.
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"The world lost a star this weekend,” the Adler family said in a statement through their attorney Tuesday. “Ella was beautiful and shined brightly. In her 15 years she gave us more light than we could have ever dreamed. While we cope with this unspeakable tragedy, we ask the public to give us our privacy as we mourn."
Adler was a young ballerina with the Miami City Ballet, a student in the class of 2027 at the Ransom Everglades School in Miami and the granddaughter of the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium, Michael M. Adler. She appeared in more than 100 performances with the Miami City Ballet and her obituary remembered her as a performer who "belonged and thrived" on stage. The Miami City Ballet called Adler "a magnificent dancer" with "potential and promise whose kindness, warmth and infectious joy were known to all." She was a member of her school's dance team, performed in the school play and was "proud" to be a member of the Ransom Everglades Jewish Students Association. Her obituary described her as a great-granddaughter of Holocaust survivors.
- That's how many deaths were tied to recreational boating in 2022, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, representing a fatality rate of 5.4 deaths per 100,000 registered recreational vessels.