Authorities were still searching on Sunday for Marly Kinney, a 19-year-old from Ashland who disappeared after a pontoon boat trip at Carter County Lake in Kentucky. At the same time, Cameron P. Conley, the 23-year-old operator of the boat, was charged with operating a watercraft under the influence.
Kinney was last seen on June 24 with 10 other people on the pontoon boat. Around 4 p.m., she supposedly got off to use the restrooms, but the group later left and did not know exactly where she got off. That uncertainty has become central to the case, because the missing teenager was still not found while authorities kept looking into the water.
The search response widened quickly. Helicopters, drones, sonar equipment, K-9 teams, divers, boats, the state police aviation unit and volunteers all joined the effort, showing how large the emergency had become. The Kinney family thanked law enforcement, first responders and volunteers as the search continued.
Conley’s case moved in parallel with the search. State troopers said he showed signs of impairment, including the smell of alcohol and red eyes, and he later admitted his guilt and agreed to a breath test. That test showed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.137%, above Kentucky’s 0.08% limit for boating.
One detail leaves the hardest question unanswered: Conley told a marina worker he could not find a woman who had been on his boat, yet the people on board still could not say where she got off. For now, authorities have not said they found Marly Kinney, and the search remained focused on the water as the criminal case around the boat ride advanced.
