A New York man was arrested in connection with a boating accident that killed a Connecticut teenager last year, authorities said Monday.
Robert McDonald, a 23-year-old Flushing resident, was charged in connection with the death of Roselyn Blanco on Candlewood Lake on May 29, 2024. Blanco was 19.
“She wanted to see every part of the world. I know she wanted to see all the hot places — because she loved the water. She loved summers,” Blanco’s friend, Erica Toran, told the Danbury News-Times after her death. “She loved being in the sun. She loved being at the beach.”
Blanco, a Danbury resident, was a passenger on a boat that was tied to a dock when she fell off, investigators said. Though first responders were called to the scene of a drowning, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said she actually suffered injuries consistent with a propeller strike.
When Blanco fell off, her swimsuit was almost immediately caught in the boat’s motor, according to a GoFundMe for her family.
The months-long investigation included extensive interviews, several search warrants and a reconstruction of the accident, officials said.
McDonald was charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and second-degree reckless operation of a vessel. He was booked Sunday and released on $10,000 bail, with his next court date scheduled for May 15.