Five students from Texas Christian University have been charged after allegedly lying to police about what happened to 19-year-old Jack Elliott on October 14, 2019.
On that fateful day, Elliott fell off of a boat the students were using on Lake Travis outside of Austin, Texas, Fox News reported. The students had been boating when they heard a commotion and realized Elliott was not on the boat. They felt a bump and could not see Elliot in the water, turning the boat around to look for him before returning to shore.
The students reportedly tossed the alcohol they had on board before docking and calling the police. Elle Weber, who had been driving the boat when Elliott fell, called police and identified herself as “Elle Macpherson,” later saying in a sworn deposition she didn’t know the name she had given belonged to a supermodel.
Two months after the incident, Texas Parks and Wildlife game warden Ben Echelson released a report detailing what happened to Elliott. Echelson’s report noted that Delaney Brennan, who had been on the boat and flirting with Elliott, had pushed him “playfully,” causing him to fall overboard.
“Jack Elliott was pushed by Delaney Brennan from the front of a wakeboard boat … operated by Elle Weber under the supervision of Carson Neel,” the report said, according to the Orange County Register. After Elliott was pushed and fell into the water, he “was struck by the propeller multiple times and was killed … the alcohol on board was thrown overboard,” the report added.
The report further noted that some students on the boat gave false statements to police “concerning the events preceding the push and the manner in which Jack Elliott fell into the water.”
In 2020, Elliott’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit to try and figure out what really happened to their son. In a sworn statement, Weber, the driver of the boat, said that Brennan had pushed Elliott, causing him to fall off the boat.
“Delaney and Jack were at the front of the boat, flirting and kissing. She gave Jack a ‘playful little shove’ and he fell off the boat,” Weber wrote.
Another person wrote in their affidavit that Brennan repeatedly said: “He fell. I didn’t mean to push him.”
One person on the boat noted in an affidavit that the students only spent about five minutes looking for Elliott before returning to shore.
Police records indicated that the students “hatched a plan to hide the truth from authorities and even Jack’s family in Newport Beach,” the Daily Mail reported. Part of that plan included convincing Anthony Salazar, who didn’t drink that day, to say he had been driving the boat when Elliott fell off.
Brennan was indicted in late 2021 for felony tampering with evidence, after she allegedly helped delete cell phone video from the boat that day. Salazar was indicted on a misdemeanor perjury charge for allegedly lying about driving the boat, while Weber was indicted on a misdemeanor charge of providing false information to police.
Carson Neel was indicted on a felony charge of tampering with physical evidence for allegedly dumping the alcohol off the boat, and Joshua Evans was indicted on a misdemeanor charge for allegedly providing alcohol to a minor.