Pineview Reservoir

OGDEN — A 2nd District Court jury found Colton Raines and Robert Cole Boyer guilty Thursday night of misdemeanor charges in the death of Esther Fujimoto.

Fujimoto was struck by a powerboat driven by Raines on Aug. 21, 2011, while she swam in Pineview Reservoir.

The jury got the case about 6:30 p.m. following a day of testimony and closing arguments and deliberated for about 90 minutes before returning with a verdict.

OGDEN — Esther Fujimoto’s screams could be heard 300 yards away when she was fatally struck by a powerboat, a 2nd District Court jury was told Tuesday.

OGDEN — In the end, the defense couldn’t silence the screams Skyler Shepherd said he never heard.

After three days of testimony and two hours of closing arguments, a 2nd District Court jury needed barely 90 minutes to find Shepherd guilty on all charges in the Aug. 21, 2011, boating death of Esther Fujimoto on Pineview Reservoir.

The propeller of Shepherd’s boat, driven by friend Colton Raines, broke Fujimoto’s pelvis and slashed her lower body, nearly severing one leg.

Shepherd — claiming he saw no injuries and did not hear any screams — then took the wheel to leave the scene with the swimmer bobbing in the water.

OGDEN — A 2nd District Court jury Tuesday heard Vaughn Anderson’s 22-minute 911 call made as he held Esther Fujimoto in his hands, shortly after she was struck by Skyler Shepherd’s boat while swimming in Pineview Reservoir.

Shepherd, 22, is charged with reckless endangerment, obstruction of justice and leaving the scene of an accident in the Aug. 21, 2011, fatality.

Anderson, in a small rowboat, is heard on the tape, alternately crying and screaming as he talks to the dispatcher before a Weber County sheriff’s boat pulls up to help him.

OGDEN -- A judge has ruled that evidence is sufficient to advance to trial three men charged in an Aug. 21 boating fatality at Pineview Reservoir.

But before the ruling Thursday, prosecutors played in 2nd District Court the tape of Donald Vaughn Anderson’s 911 call as he tried to save the life of Esther Fujimoto after she was struck by a boat while swimming.

The 22-minute tape silenced the packed courtroom. There were only tears from the gallery, with easily a dozen friends and family members of Fujimoto on hand, as a backdrop to the horrific tape that played the last minutes of Fujimoto’s life.

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HUNTSVILLE — A 42-year-old man has drowned in Pineview Reservoir.

OGDEN — Denice Fujimoto encountered for the first time the three men she is suing in the death of her sister, Esther.

Skyler Shepherd, 22, Colton Raines, 22, and Robert Cole Boyer, 29, were arraigned Wednesday in 2nd District Court on charges from an Aug. 21 boating accident that left Esther Fujimoto dying in the waters of Pineview Reservoir.