Found Deceased TX - Matthew Meinert, 38, Denton County, 6 March 2017

los2188

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Dad still missing after toddler found safe during Denton Creek search
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After a full day of searching, there was still no sign Tuesday evening of missing boater, Matthew Meinert, who disappeared in Denton Creek Monday.

His 2-year-old son, Oliver was found safe Tuesday morning.

http://www.kvue.com/mb/news/local/search-continues-for-missing-boaters-in-denton-creek/420545762





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It's a little hard to imagine a circumstance that would kill the father but leave the child unharmed. I think this is very hopeful that the father is alive and well, and somewhere else.
 
Between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Monday, boaters found Meinert's flat-bottom aluminum fishing boat abandoned and beached up the creek from the boat launch. It was empty except for fishing gear, shoes and a cellphone.

The Department launched a helicopter, and multiple police agencies assisted until about 2 a.m. The agencies returned when the sun came up Tuesday morning, and that's when they found the 2-year-old boy, who approached them with open arms. Police say Oliver was dry, wearing only a T-shirt and shorts and he had several scratches and cuts from his night alone in the woods.

The prevailing theory is that Meinert might have fallen out into the water with the boat continuing under its own power until it hit shore and rammed into the tree.

Family members told police the father knew the lake and was an avid fisherman, who had been there many times.

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article136872888.html
http://www.kvue.com/news/local/search-continues-for-missing-boaters-in-denton-creek/420545762
 
Maybe I'm being persnickity, but why was the child wearing a t-shirt and shorts when he was found, but wearing a buttoned plaid shirt when he got on the boat? Maybe they loosely mean "t-shirt and shorts" to describe that he wasn't warmly dressed.

I'm curious about what "beached" means with this boat. Was the boat hauled ashore, or was it tangled in tree branches?
 
I just looked at that lake on a map and it's huge! I can't believe they found the little boy. Thank God. But I do wonder what happened exactly. Scary that they weren't weren't life jackets.
 
Maybe I'm being persnickity, but why was the child wearing a t-shirt and shorts when he was found, but wearing a buttoned plaid shirt when he got on the boat? Maybe they loosely mean "t-shirt and shorts" to describe that he wasn't warmly dressed.

I'm curious about what "beached" means with this boat. Was the boat hauled ashore, or was it tangled in tree branches?

This link shows the boat on shore where it seems to have run into a tree.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Search-for-Missing-Boaters-on-Denton-Creek-415545683.html
 
Very strange that the child was most likely not wearing a life jacket, especially considering the comments that Mr. Meinert was an avid boater. Equally bizarre that the prevailing theory (and the most likely, I suppose) seems to be that Mr. Meinert fell out of the boat and the boat continued unmanned until it ran aground. Seems like for that set of facts to be true, he would have had to have fallen out and been unconscious and unable to swim after the boat and his child. What would cause that besides a medical emergency?

I wonder what Mr. Meinert's personal life circumstances might show.
 
This link shows the boat on shore where it seems to have run into a tree.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Search-for-Missing-Boaters-on-Denton-Creek-415545683.html

From that picture, the boat travelled over land some distance before coming to rest at the base of the tree. I wonder if they could try to repeat that with another similar boat - how fast would you have to be going to launch that boat up on land? That seems an odd position - to me - for the boat to stop. I'm assuming the boat was stopped - and out of gas?

Edited to add: from that pic, the tree is about 20 feet into the rock ledge, and the engine is pulled up the way you do if you're going to pull the boat over land. The engine - in my observation - is not in the position it would be if it were propelling the boat through the water. That ledge is rock -it's not just soft muck, as you can see 3 rescuers are standing on it.

I think he pulled that boat up there, for whatever reason - maybe to allow his son to go to the bathroom, etc.
 
In the last article JeannaT posted above this comment, it says a boater saw the boat aground, found the cellphone in the boat and used it to call his family - but it says no footprints were around the boat...kinda seems impossible - unless they mean they ruled out the finder's footprints? Also, I don't see a trench dug by the motor to where the boat stopped, so I tend to agree with JeannaT's earlier comment about the boat motor being in the wrong position to have gone there unmanned.
 

Any boaters here? Does that boat look like he pulled it up there on purpose or does it look more like it ran aground? I am baffled that the child had no life jacket on if the boat were moving in the water. Could the kid take it off - is he old enough to unbuckle it? ETA: Sorry I see up above speculation it likely did not run aground due to engine position and no marks.
 
To me, it looks like the boat was pulled ashore.

If the boat ran aground on it's own with the engine running, I would assume it would have hit the shoreline and be pushed sideways in the water, not travel some 15-20 feet up onto the shore and lay against tree roots, unless he was speeding, but even so, a boat that size in a creek wouldn't have a powerful engine.

:thinking:
 
Thank you Los for Starting this, my hubby and I speculated on this last night , I am wondering if he ran into someone out there and they didn't want to hurt the little boy but killed the father, and I am also wondering if it could be a gator attack, they have been pulling some rather large ones out of the rivers around here, I've seen one myself by loop 12 in the Trinity.
 
Another oddity is that someone found the boat an hour or two after it was launched? The person stayed with the boat and made a phone call to the family.

Police arrived and searched the area until 2:00 a.m. Next morning, police come back to search and who walks up to them but Oliver, in an outfit different than the picture Matthew took before they started boating. I found it strange that neither the person who found the boat nor the police searches that night came across Oliver.

Very strange.
 
Boats are wobbly, even with a flat bottom in very shallow water. I have a hard time imagining how a two year old could climb out, unassisted, without getting wet and muddy.
I think that someone puled the boat all of the way out of the water.

I wonder whose idea it was for Dad to take the two year old on the motorboat, in the evening shortly before sundown, without another adult to hold the boy and make sure he didn't fall out while Dad drove the boat.

My hubby would have had to tie me up and gag me to get out of the house for that kind of outing with one of my babies. Two year olds get away from you as fast as lightning, even in a grocery store. They are impulsive and top heavy. Very dangerous in a boat on a lake with lots of underwater obstacles and just one adult who cant abruptly let go of the motor and grab him when necessary!

I don't think Dad is in the water unless someone else killed him and put him there. Cell phone pings for him and for anyone else who knew he was there would be good to know. Did Dad do this to disappear on purpose? Or maybe someone expected him to be alone, ambushed him at a pre-arranged meeting spot and had to figure out what to do with the poor little boy at the last minute. Maybe they initally took the baby so he wouldn't be left alone in the woods then returned him when they knew the searchers would be out looking the next morning.

I'm sorry that my theories sound so bleak. The facts of the case released so far make an innocent accident on the water hard for me to believe.
 
I can see him taking the outer shirt off and just leaving the tee shirt , I was sitting outside in the sun at 5 waiting to be picked up yesterday and I was REALLY hot , in fact I was surprised at how hot I was in the sun and the air was a bit chilly.
 
Boats are wobbly, even with a flat bottom in very shallow water. I have a hard time imagining how a two year old could climb out, unassisted, without getting wet and muddy.
I think that someone puled the boat all of the way out of the water.

I wonder whose idea it was for Dad to take the two year old on the motorboat, in the evening shortly before sundown, without another adult to hold the boy and make sure he didn't fall out while Dad drove the boat.

My hubby would have had to tie me up and gag me to get out of the house for that kind of outing with one of my babies. Two year olds get away from you as fast as lightning, even in a grocery store. They are impulsive and top heavy. Very dangerous in a boat on a lake with lots of underwater obstacles and just one adult who cant abruptly let go of the motor and grab him when necessary!

I don't think Dad is in the water unless someone else killed him and put him there. Cell phone pings for him and for anyone else who knew he was there would be good to know. Did Dad do this to disappear on purpose? Or maybe someone expected him to be alone, ambushed him at a pre-arranged meeting spot and had to figure out what to do with the poor little boy at the last minute. Maybe they initally took the baby so he wouldn't be left alone in the woods then returned him when they knew the searchers would be out looking the next morning.

I'm sorry that my theories sound so bleak. The facts of the case released so far make an innocent accident on the water hard for me to believe.

they found his cell phone in the boat , someone else used it
 

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