What started as a routine marine rescue in southwest Florida quickly turned into something far stranger and far more troubling. In a report for Gulf Coast News, Jaylen Baron described a case out of Marco Island in which a boater who had just been pulled from danger was later accused of turning on the captain who saved him, shoving him into the water, and taking off in the very vessel that came to help.
According to Baron’s report, the man now accused is Ryan Deiter, and the allegations against him read more like the plot of a wild crime drama than a normal boating case. Investigators say he was rescued from a burning boat, along with a dog, only to then hijack a Sea Tow boat worth around $100,000.
That is the part of the story that sticks with you. Rescue calls usually end with relief, maybe some paperwork, and then a long story told later at the dock. This one, if the allegations are true, turned into a betrayal in the middle of the water.
A Rescue Call Turns Into A Double Cross
Baron said the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC, responded to a call Friday evening about a boat on fire in the Ten Thousand Islands area. Sea Tow also responded, which is normal in a marine emergency where a stranded or endangered boater needs help fast.
According to FWC, the Sea Tow captain successfully rescued both Deiter and the dog that had been on board the burning vessel. That should have been the end of the danger, at least for the people involved…