Five Texas College students are being charged following the death in 2019 of a college freshman, after he was allegedly pushed off a 22-foot boat.
Jack Elliott, 19, a Texas Christian University student, appears to have fallen from the boat into Lake Travis near Austin, after Delaney Brennan, 21, allegedly pushed him while they were fooling around.
Some witnesses said that Jack and Delaney were flirting and kissing when a playful shove led him to fall overboard and hit a propeller and drown.
Investigators say that the witnesses lied about the circumstances, which were revealed in a wrongful death lawsuit by Jack Elliott’s family.
The students all said that Delaney didn’t mean to hurt Jack. However, five students are now facing criminal charges for covering up the true story, including deleting a phone video.
Delaney is being charged with tampering with evidence by helping delete a cell phone video of the incident.
The new story that emerged was that there were 12 young people on the boat and they spent their outing drinking and dancing on the boat with an occasional swim. There apparently was a lot of beer on board. In the early evening the group noticed that Jack wasn’t on board.
They searched for him and used their cell phone flashlights, looking for a clue showing that Jack had fallen overboard.
One student dived into the water and checked the boat propellers, looking for Jack.
When he couldn’t be found, the boat headed back to shore.
Following Jack’s disappearance, the remaining students came up with a story to tell the family and investigators. They dumped remaining alcohol that was on the boat.
Jack’s body was eventually found, 10 days later, 100 feet deep in the water.
When interviewed by police, some of the witnesses took the fifth amendment. Others told a version of the story that did not match the stories of other witnesses.
One witness broke down and told the family that they really didn’t know what happened to Jack. There was a lot of speculation, but no one actually saw him go overboard.
Why were they afraid to tell the truth?
One witness said he believed Jack was pushed by Delaney.
After two months gathering evidence, Ben Echelson, a Texas Parks and Wildlife game warden, wrote a report about what he thought had happened based on all the information gathered.
“Jack Elliott was pushed by Delaney Brennan from the front of a wakeboard boat … operated by Elle Weber under the supervision of Carson Neel.”
“Jack Elliott was struck by the propeller multiple times and was killed … the alcohol on board was thrown overboard,” Echelson wrote.
“False statements were given to the officers responding to the accident concerning the events preceding the push and the manner in which Jack Elliott fell into the water.”
Had the truth finally come out?
The 2020 lawsuit by the family was settled privately. But in 2021, a grand jury elected to press criminal charges.
Delaney Brennan was indicted on a felony charge. Carson Neel was indicted on a felony charge of tampering with physical evidence for allegedly dumping the alcohol.
Delaney and Carson could face up to 10 years in jail and a $10,000 fine.
Elle Weber has been indicted on a misdemeanor charge of giving false information to a police officer.
Joshua Evans was indicted on a misdemeanor charge of giving alcohol to a minor.
Anthony Salazar was indicted for perjury, on a misdemeanor charge.
