New details have emerged around last year’s deadly boat accident on Lake Tahoe.
The investigative reports were compiled by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office in August and September 2025, months after eight people were killed in the June 21, 2025 accident near D.L. Bliss State Park. The documents were released earlier this month and obtained by CapRadio by a Public Records Act request.
The National Transportation Safety Board issued its preliminary report on the incident last July, which mirrors much of the information provided in the sheriff’s documents. The NTSB’s report included information about the final trip, weather conditions and survivor details, but no names were mentioned.
“No sense of urgency”
Both reports included details provided by one of the two survivors of the accident — Amy Friduss of Rochester, New York. She and her mother, Julie Lindsay of Springwater, New York, were found wearing life jackets or other personal floatation devices (PFDs) after the accident.
None of the deceased were found with PFDs, according to both the El Dorado and NTSB reports.
The group had set out from Tahoe City on the morning of June 21 aboard the 28-foot-long recreational vessel named Over the Moon. They traveled to Emerald Bay, but weather conditions changed throughout the afternoon.
In one report, sheriff’s deputy Joseph Sherry wrote that Friduss told him she recalled two-to-three-foot waves splashing into the boat as it departed Emerald Bay in the pouring rain, “but no water was accumulating on the deck.”
“The winds increased; Friduss reported marble-sized hail collecting in the boat and that the waves further increased to 8-10 feet,” Sherry wrote. “She recalled that a few of these waves broke over the sides and bow, and about an inch of water accumulated on the boat deck.”
Deputies noted as weather conditions worsened, and Over the Moon took on more water, “some of the passengers attempted to bail the water out of the boat with a Yeti cooler.” Deputy Matthew Grey wrote Friduss told him “she told everyone on board to keep bailing out water, but there was ‘no sense of urgency.’”
Friduss then put on a life jacket “and distributed PFDs to everyone else in the boat,” but investigators noted “no one else immediately donned their PFD.”
“The occupants of the boat began to argue and the boat turned sideways to the waves and wind,” Grey wrote. “They began to take on even more water and things got worse. All of [a] sudden the boat flipped.”
Investigators reported that, ‘’no distress calls were made from the boat.”
Michael Ernst, a hiker who was with his family when he saw the boat capsize, told deputies he “saw several subjects scrambling for life jackets. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to get one.”
The sheriff’s office also reported Ernst said his brother unsuccessfully tried to ride a jet ski out to Over the Moon to help those onboard. Friduss and her mother were found along the shoreline, and taken to Reno for treatment of hypothermia and other injuries.
The sheriff’s office said after the Over the Moon was salvaged one PFD and an infant life vest were found still in their packaging. Investigators also found an unzipped life vest stowage bag, and five inflatable personal flotation devices in stowage compartments.
The fatal trip
The victims of the accident were:
- Joshua Pickles, 37, of San Francisco, California
- Terry Pickles, 73, of Redwood City, California
- Paula Bozinovich, 71, of Redwood City, California
- Peter Bayes, 72, of Lincoln, California
- Timothy O’Leary, 71, of Auburn, California
- Theresa Giullari, 66, of Honeoye, New York
- James Guck, 69, of Honeoye, New York
- Stephen Lindsay, 63, of Springwater, New York
Joshua Pickles, a Doordash executive, co-owned Over the Moon with his father Terry Pickles. Joshua Pickles was identified as the boat’s operator during its final voyage, and investigators wrote he had “limited experience operating this vessel.”
The group was out on Lake Tahoe to celebrate Bozinovich’s birthday, and initially launched from Tahoe City with four people aboard around 10:40 a.m.
Investigators wrote that Pickles then “drove the vessel to nearby Riva’s restaurant and purchased two gallons of Wet Woody’s (an alcoholic beverage).” The sheriff’s office said there was no evidence that alcohol or drugs played a role in the accident.
The recovered vessel, Over the Moon.Courtesy of the National Transportation Safety BoardOver the Moon then sailed to the Homewood Marina and picked up the remaining six passengers before traveling to Emerald Bay around noon, where the group stayed for around an hour. The weather was reported to be “clear skies, light southerly winds, and an air temperature of 54 degrees,” investigators wrote.
The report said there were no marine warnings or small craft advisories for the Lake Tahoe area that day, and local forecasts only had a small chance of thunderstorms.
But at around 2 p.m., clouds began to increase. Pickles tried to return to Homewood Marina but turned back to Emerald Bay as winds, rain and waves increased. The weather worsened, with more rain and hail, and Pickles again tried sailing back to the marina.
Investigators wrote that at around 2:36 p.m. a nearby camera “captured whitecaps on the lake” and that minutes later the footage showed “blowing rain and mixed freezing precipitation and, at 1449, blowing snow.” A nearby weather station recorded peak wind speeds of 34 knots, and the water temperature was reported to be 54 degrees.
Over the Moon’s engine stopped between 50 and 100 yards from the west shoreline of Lake Tahoe near Rooster Rock. The vessel began to drift as more water poured over the side.
Ernst told investigators he saw a large wave wash over the Over the Moon around 2:57 p.m., causing the vessel to capsize and throwing passengers into the water.
In the photo released by the U.S. Coast Guard, a capsized vessel floats is seen near D.L. Bliss State Park at Lake Tahoe, Calif., June 21, 2025.Petty Officer 1st Class Justin Smith/U.S. Coast Guard via AP
Investigators wrote some of those aboard were initially reported as holding onto the boat, while another disappeared under the water and did not resurface for at least three minutes. Victims were also reported to be drowning, or being facedown in the water.
Six people were initially recovered and declared dead on scene, along with Friduss and Julie Lindsay.
Stephen Lindsay’s body was found the next day by the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office at a depth of 222 feet. The final victim — James Guck — was found June 23 more than 300 feet below the lake’s surface.
Investigators said they found no evidence of a hull leak, grounding, or collision contact on the Over the Moon. The NTSB’s investigation is ongoing, according to the agency’s website.
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