From the moment Jack Elliott tumbled from the bow of a 22-foot boat into the darkness of a Texas lake, “extreme hysteria” gripped the college friends who had ventured out for a day of revelry on the water.
Five of the teens now face criminal charges. Some also have been sued by Jack’s family. This article was reported using police records and sworn statements from the lawsuit — depositions and affidavits — as well as recordings of a phone call some of the students made to Jack’s parents. Friends knew him as outgoing and enthusiastic, a boy with a big heart who was looking forward to studying business at TCU. He wanted to go into commercial real estate, a lucrative field occupied by many of his Newport Beach neighbors.
There was an instant attraction between Jack and Delaney that summer of 2019, a casual flirtation that lasted right up to the moment he disappeared.Jack had been in college only eight weeks when he and some friends jumped into a borrowed car on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, to make the three-hour drive from Fort Worth to the Austin City Limits music festival at Zilker Park, along the Colorado River.
They stopped at the boat shop for cigarettes, ice and snacks, loaded up the vodka, beer and White Claw and set off about 3:30 p.m. with Carson at the wheel of the wakeboarding boat. Carson had plenty of experience in the captain’s chair and had taken a boating safety class when he was 15. When the beer ran dry, they went back to the marina, where Carson took a 12-pack from the refrigerator in the office area. No one else was there.After several hours on the water, the boat rumbled hard, as if it had run over something. That’s when the partiers noticed Jack was gone. Carson had the vessel on cruise control, traveling just over 10 mph, and Elle was at the wheel.
Carson jumped into the lake, checked the propeller and looked for Jack. But the group spent no more than five minutes searching before they headed back to shore, according to Caden’s deposition.Elle called 911. She gave her name to police as “Elle Macpherson.” She would later say in a sworn deposition that she was unfamiliar with the name of the famous supermodel and actress.On the way back, they dumped the remaining alcohol overboard.