Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PINEVIEW — Investigators say the boaters who hit and killed a University of Utah scientist swimming there over the weekend were seen stopping and talking to the woman before leaving her in the water.
Esther Fujimoto, an avid swimmer and accomplished molecular biologist, was hit and killed Aug. 21. She was swimming 200 to 300 feet offshore, one of her favorite pastimes, when she was hit by a boat.
After she was hit, a resident on shore who heard her cries for help, rowed a boat to her to assist until rescue crews could arrive.
"He could hear them saying, 'Lady, are you OK? Lady, are you OK?'" Lowther said.
The Weber County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday that before the man with the rowboat went into the water, he saw the blue and white boat believed to have hit Fujimoto. He said the boat had a driver and two passengers and they stopped to talk to her, said Weber County Sheriff's Lt. Mark Lowther.
"He could hear them saying, 'Lady, are you OK? Lady, are you OK?'" Lowther said.
But a few moments later, the boat drove off and left her in the water.
Lowther said it was obvious to the man on the shore that Fujimoto was severely injured, and it should have been evident right away to those in the boat.
"I believe they knew she was injured," he said. "Just her voice and her cries for help."
By the time the man rowed his boat to Fujimoto, Lowther said, he could tell right away that she needed medical attention.
The search for the three people in the motor boat continued Wednesday. The only description investigators have released is that the boat was blue and white. The Weber County Sheriff's Office has received numerous tips from people who know someone with a blue and white boat. But there is other information detectives have about the boat that they are not releasing to insure they find the right one.
Anyone with information can contact the sheriff's office at 801-778-6648 or 801-778-6631.
But rather than checking every blue and white boat in the state, Lowther said, it would be better if the three men just came out of hiding.
"We want to get these three or someone who knows about them to come forward so they can give their side of the story," he said.
Lowther said investigators were sure there were people in the community who know who the boaters were.
"We need these people to come forward now so that the family of Ms. Fujimoto can have some closure over what happened to her," he said.
Email:preavy@ksl.com
