An out of control speed boat permanently disfigures a woman.

Stephanie booker after the accident

Stephanie: before and after

A speedboat crashing into a small boat sending sparks flying

The speedboat plowed into them

Suspect #1:

Gender: Female (passenger)
Defining Characteristics: Driving a Miami Vice style speedboat with a single engine Mercury cruiser outdrive, 25 to 30 feet long and painted white with teal green markings.  The fiberglass shell was probably damaged on the starboard side about 5 feet from the stern.  The driver of the speedboat was a stocky, clean-shaven white male with light hair.  His companion was an athletic-looking woman with very long dark hair.  They drove a white 4×4 pickup

Suspect #2:

Gender: Male (driver)

CASE DETAILS

It happened on Lewisville Lake, Texas, 20 miles north of Dallas.   Stephanie Booker and two friends, Sabra Scott and Kim Colvin, spent the day swimming and sailing on the lake.   June 17, 1995 was a typical outing, until nightfall.

A speedboat speeding off into the night

The suspects fled the scene

After a break for dinner, the three friends decided to take one last cruise on their boat.   Near midnight, the young women headed back to the boat slip.   They slowed down as they entered the no-wake zone where boaters are required to stay under five miles an hour.   Then, a hundred yards away, a speedboat raced out of the darkness.   Stephanie and her friends never had a chance as the speedboat plowed into them.   Stephanie was severely injured:

“It was as if my mouth felt sewn shut.   And so I had to brace myself with my hands to push my body up.   And then I felt this terrible weight hanging off of my face, as if dough was hanging off of my face, and I reached up and realized that my face was in my hand.”

The speed boat’s propeller had slashed across Stephanie’s face, literally slicing it from the bone. Kim Colvin came to the immediate aid of her injured friend:

“Her lips were detached from her face, I couldn’t see any gums or teeth, there was skin hanging down from her eye.   So I was seeing her exposed face, and I could tell she was having a hard time breathing.”

On the other boat, a man and a young woman appeared at the driver’s side.   They stared.   Neither said a word.   According to Sabra Scott, her calls for help went unanswered:

“He stood there as if contemplating the pros and cons. I’m sure he thought he already killed someone.   I remember one of the individuals making the other person to kind of, like, ‘Be silent. Don’t say anything.’   So it was total silence with me yelling and screaming at them. They made no motions to say one word or make any actions to come to help us.”

Stephanie on a hospital bed after undergoing surgery

Stephanie underwent many surgeries

When the driver finally did do something, it was to save himself.   He gunned his engine and took off.

Sabra got the boat started and headed for shore. Kim turned her attention back to Stephanie:

“I’m thinking to myself that Stephanie’s going to quit breathing any minute now. I can’t give her mouth-to-mouth, ’cause I’m afraid if I put any pressure, it’ll cave in any facial structure she has, and also, I didn’t think there was an airway big enough to get any air in her.”

Stephanie was rushed to surgery.   Meanwhile, police began looking for the driver of the speed boat or anyone who might have seen him.   Weldon Lucas was a Sheriff of Denton County, Texas, at the time of the accident:

“Right after the accident, we have two witnesses that were there. They heard the screaming.   They heard the noise coming from the accident.   And then about 15 or 20 seconds after that, they saw a boat fitting this description just come hauling butt.”

A Miami vice style speed boat on a lake

The suspects drove a Miami Vice style speedboat

Five minutes later, another eyewitness saw two people load the same boat onto a trailer towed by a white 4×4 pickup truck.   Without even bothering to tie down the boat, they sped off into the night.   They remain unidentified. The community was outraged.   Local businesses raised reward money.   Meanwhile, it took 12 reconstructive surgeries to rebuild Stephanie’s internal facial structure:

“I’m not able to breathe very well.   I’m not able to smell as well, nor can I taste the way I used to be able to.   And my teeth that I have are very much for aesthetics, for looks.   Memory, concentration skills, the ability to do more than one task at a time, all the things that I used to do and take for granted are gone.   And I walk by a mirror after I’ve had one of my many surgeries and look at myself and just wonder: why did someone do this? Why did they not come forward? Why don’t they care?”

However, one person did seem to care.   According to Sheriff Lucas, police have heard from the same anonymous caller three times:

“He stated emphatically that he knew who it was, that he was going to talk to the person and try to get him to turn himself in. From just the tone of his voice and the way he was talking, we think that he does know who it is, and we would like for him to at least contact us.”

The suspects were driving a 25 to 30 foot-long Miami Vice style speedboat painted white with teal green markings.   The driver of the speedboat was a stocky, clean-shaven white male with light hair.   His companion was an athletic-looking woman with very long dark hair. They drove a white 4×4 pickup.

Although her wounds have since healed, for Stephanie Booker, she will never fully recover until the man who nearly killed her is brought to justice.


Watch this case now on Amazon Prime in season nine with Robert Stack and in season three with Dennis Farina. Also available on YouTube with Dennis Farina. Various seasons available now on Hulu.

SUBMIT A TIP

 

27 Comments

  1. Billy

    Sneaky Pete’s owner Earl Addams also had a cigarette boat during that time.

    Reply

  2. Amy

    I heard it was Dennis Rodman and his Attorney driving. I also heard they drove boat to a Scott in Royce City where he chopped up boat, hauled it on its trailer, and stuffed whole boat motor and all in an old well in Midland TX. That Scott guy that told me this, pulled up boat hull sticking out of ground on a satellite map near Midland Tx where he stuffed it.

    Reply

  3. Mountain Mike

    The surgeons did a hell of a good job. She’s still beautiful. It’s too bad her emotional scars will never hear. I feel so bad for her. I just saw this episode today and the update said that the statute of limitations has expired. Hopefully whoever did this will have a little accident and fall on a knife….about 9 times….

    Reply

  4. Darlene

    I remember when this happened. I lived in the area at the time. It was Rodman’s boat that he lent to a friend. Dennis knows who it is.

    Reply

  5. Charles

    It is doubtful this could ever get solved. I think the anonymous caller was the female companion and she had a guilty conscience. But she must have gotten over feeling guilty.

    Reply

  6. Matthew

    The way the program handled the perpetrators actions was very classy. It takes no imagination to know why the male driver was distracted and why the woman’s head came up second…
    Hopefully he at least got teeth on impact

    Reply

  7. Anonymous

    Go digging in the old Rodman Excavating yard in Frisco and you’ll find the boat.

    Reply

  8. Paul

    I think there’s a very good chance that whoever did this was there doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing. They got distracted, and then in the blink of an eye tragedy struck.

    Reply

  9. Capps

    I think I know who did it just don’t remember their names… How can that be of any use if I can’t remember their names?

    Reply

  10. Anonymous

    Seems like they can find all the folks who bought boats like this, there can’t be THAT many of them even in the Dallas area.

    Reply

  11. David

    This is one of the cases that has always disturbed me. Someone above made a comment I agree with, and that is I think there were sexual shenanigans going on while that man should have focused on piloting the boat. It is also possible that the female was underage, which would have given more reason not to want to be caught and have it known they were engaging in fellatio.

    Reply

  12. Anonymous

    Not to be crude but it sounds like the driver was receiving oral pleasure. It’s just the way the lady appeared out of no where and would explain the accident as distracted driving. Which would be part of the reason they didn’t help along with the fact that he was probably drunk.

    Reply

  13. Anonymous

    It was dennis rodman boat, he wasn’t driving it though, he was.named in her lawsuit look it up, there ya go

    Reply

    • J.Viper

      I’m convinced of this also. Rodman is a POS, because if it wasn’t him, he knows who it was. His boat mysteriously disappeared.

      Reply

    • Jason Stone

      according to Unsolved Mysteries Wiki, he was questioned along with associates of his about it and was cleared of being a suspect with alibis confirmed.

      Reply

  14. Anonymous

    I see them on the coast, they painted the jeep a different color, maybe, I see them with a sale boat, I see jet skis, on the beach and at the lake, I see a green metal flack, white jeep, in frunt of maroon Grage door, black trim for the green shingles,

    Reply

  15. Anonymous

    I remember back in 81 when i was almost hit by a speeding boat, I jumped out of the way on time..and then i looked at the person who was driving..it was a cold mist..no one was on the boat

    Reply

  16. Thomas Green

    Why the person that called​ in haven’t told who it is yet how long before time runs out.

    Reply

  17. Ryan

    The person(s) responsible didn’t/wouldn’t have stopped NOT because they’re scared or intoxicated; it’s a no brainier; only CRIMINALS flee the scene;in other words the driver or his female passenger (or both) have/had been in trouble with the law before.

    Reply

  18. Shelley

    Somebody has to know who it was . I wonder if the boat was repainted or sold

    Reply

  19. Anonymous

    Is there a Statue of limitations on this? It’s un real that this would go on solved for this long almost 21 years now. They never could find any kind of evidence or who owned a boat like that in that area at the time.

    Reply

  20. Bren

    Horrible to leave someone there when they were screaming for help. What type of pp try to get away with this. It makes me sick. Hope they solve this mystery.

    Reply

  21. Jolie

    Has this case been solved yet? This concerns me because I live in Dallas and we frequent Lewisville Lake with our friends. I have friends that have lived in Lewisville for 35 years, with the lake practically as their backyard.
    Stephanie had wonderful doctors to make her look flawless. She is beautiful!! God bless these women and their courage. Especially Stephanie!

    Reply

  22. Miranda. shortt

    What a jerk. I hope the guy that caused the wreck is brought to justice.

    Reply