Emergency crews took to the Ohio River in Ripley on the night of Aug. 29, 2020 in search of the two missing fishermen after their pontoon boat was struck by a powerboat. Photo by Wade Linville
Jerome George Schrage, Jr.
The pontoon boat of fishermen William Stacy Harper and Daryl Kilgore that was struck by a powerboat on the night of Aug. 29, 2020. Jerome “Jerry” Schrage, Jr. has been sentenced to aggravated vehicular homicide in the death of the two boaters. Photo by Wade Linville
William Stacy Harper and Daryl Kilgore were fishing on the Ohio River on the night of Aug. 29, 2020 when their pontoon boat was struck by a powerboat, resulting in the death of the two fishermen. Jerome “Jerry” Schrage, Jr. was sentenced on two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and one count of vehicular assault as a result of the boat crash.
Jerome George Schrage, Jr., 59, of Amelia, was sentenced Feb. 6 in the Brown County Court of Common Pleas on two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, one count of vehicular assault, and one count of falsification for a boat crash on the Ohio River that claimed the lives of two fishermen on Aug. 29, 2020.
The two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide were listed in Schrage’s indictment from Aug. 12, 2021 as third degree felonies each having maximum penalties of 60 months in prison and $10,000 fines. The one count of vehicular assault was listed as a fourth degree felony having a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine, and the charge of falsification was listed as a first degree misdemeanor having a maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Schrage was also indicted on one count of obstructing official business in 2021.
Schrage entered a plea of guilty on the two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, one count of vehicular assault, and one count of falsification on Dec. 19, 2022.
On Feb. 6, Brown County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott T. Gusweiler sentenced Schrage to 48 months in the Ohio Department of Corrections on one count of aggravated vehicular homicide and 48 months in the Ohio Department of Corrections on the other count of aggravated vehicular homicide to be served consecutively to the sentence imposed.
For vehicular assault, Schrage was sentenced to 14 months in the Ohio Department of Corrections to be served consecutively to the sentences imposed in the two counts of aggravated vehicular assault.
For falsification, Schrage was sentenced to 180 days in the Brown County Adult Detention Center to be served concurrently with the previous sentences.
It was further ordered that Schrage’s drivers license be suspended for life, with the first three being mandatory. Further, the court suspended the Schrage’s ability to operate a watercraft for life, with the first three years being mandatory. He was notified that post release control was mandatory for up to three years.
The charge of obstructing official business was ordered dismissed.
William Stacy Harper and Daryl Duane Kilgore were fishing from their pontoon boat on the Ohio River near Ripley the night of Aug. 29, 2020 when their pontoon boat was struck by a powerboat operated by Schrage.
The three people in the powerboat, Schrage and two others, were rescued. But it took an extensive search of the Ohio River to find the bodies of Harper and Kilgore.
Kilgore’s body was recovered on the morning of Aug. 31, and later that evening, Harper’s body was also recovered.
There were more than half a dozen agencies taking to the river on Monday, Aug. 31, 2020, to assist in the search, after more than 20 hours of searching the river the day prior to the discovery of the bodies.
The search began shortly after the crash on the night of Aug. 29, 2020.
The search was suspended after 2 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020 but resumed around 9 a.m. that same morning.
On the morning of Monday, Aug. 31, 2020, the body of Daryl Kilgore, 49, was found in the Ohio River near the Ripley Boat Club.
An ODNR K-9 unit searched the river the following day, and that evening the body of Williams “Stacy” Harper, 49, was recovered.
Clark Gray, who lives in Ripley near where the crash took place on the Ohio River, was sitting in his kitchen when he heard a noise outside his house. Gray said he thought it may have been a boat hitting a log, which is a common occurrence.
“It happens all the time, so I didn’t pay much attention,” said Gray.
Then Gray said he could hear people talking from a boat on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, and heard someone say the boat was sinking.
Gray said he could hear no screaming or crying for help, just people talking. Gray knew that calling 9-1-1 may take too long for emergency crews to respond and realized there was no time to spare with a sinking boat, so he immediately called his brother who owns a boat and lives just five houses down. But Gray’s brother did not have his boat in the water, so he then made a call to the Ripley Boat Club to see if someone could send some boaters out to assist in the rescue.
“I told the (Ripley) Boat Club they will see the lights,” said Gray.
Gray had no idea what exactly had happened and that there were two boats involved at the time he made the call to the Ripley Boat Club.
Boaters from the Ripley Boat Club took to the river to assist the survivors involved in the accident while 9-1-1 was called to the scene.
Those providing support in the search included: the residents of The Villa’s at Rivers Edge, Dustin Faul, Southern Hills Community Bank, Ohio Christian Aid – Search and Rescue, The Ripley Boat Club, and Giovanni’s Pizza.