A video captured rough waves shortly before a boat capsized on the lake, triggering a major search and rescue operation over the weekend.
Six people are dead and two remain missing after a 27-foot gold Chris-Craft capsized near D.L. Bliss State Park on Lake Tahoe around 3 p.m. Saturday, June 21, 2025, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Emergency crews from Coast Guard Station Lake Tahoe, California State Parks, and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office responded after receiving reports of 10 people in the water. The vessel reportedly overturned due to large swells amid high wind conditions.
At the time, weather reports recorded winds at 30 knots and waves ranging from six to eight feet. Two people were rescued from the water and transported to a nearby hospital.
A video taken by boat captain Joby Cefalu, shared by South Tahoe Now, captured rapidly intensifying waves shortly before the capsizing. Witnesses reported that winds suddenly shifted from the north, producing troughs up to ten feet deep
Cefalu, a veteran Lake Tahoe mariner, described the lake conditions as worse than 30-foot ocean waves — more extreme than anything he had seen in decades. He noted that northern winds of such intensity are rarely seen during summer. “It was a very, very tragic day on Lake Tahoe,” he added.
At 10:30 a.m. Sunday, search teams — including El Dorado County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue, K9 units, a dive team, and the North Tahoe Fire Protection District — were scouring the lake for the two missing people.
That afternoon, at approximately 3:15 p.m., the Coast Guard suspended its search. Authorities have not yet released the names of the deceased or missing.
As Lake Tahoe reeled from a deadly boat capsizing, another life had already been lost in Texas waters less than a month earlier.
Ava Moore, 18, who recently finished a military preparatory program, was killed in a fatal water-related accident while kayaking on Lake Grapevine on May 25.
According to an initial report from the Grapevine Police Department, a personal watercraft (PWC) carrying two women collided with Moore’s kayak on the evening of May 25. One of the women, identified as the passenger, remained at the scene and spoke with first responders.
The other woman, believed to be the PWC operator, left the area and was later joined by a male individual. According to the joint media advisory from the Texas Game Wardens and Grapevine Police Department, they believe the pair struck another vehicle while fleeing the scene.
Their vehicle was later located near the Cobblestone Apartments at Ruth Wall and Turner Road, as reported by WFAA-8.
Meanwhile, Moore was transported to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Grapevine, where she was pronounced dead. She had returned to Texas just six days before her death, after completing her first year of training at the U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School in Colorado Springs on May 19.
She had also accepted an appointment to join the U.S. Air Force Academy as a member of the Class of 2029.
In an effort to identify those involved, Grapevine Police released a photo of the PWC operator the following day and asked the public for assistance. By May 27, the operator was identified as Daikerlyn Alejandra Gonzalez Gonzalez, 21, who was taken into custody. Authorities later identified the male companion as Maikel Coello Perozo, 21.
