Marly Kinney, 19, drowned on June 24 during a boat trip on Grayson Lake in Kentucky, her body being discovered on Sunday after a four-day search. Her sister, Willow VanHoose, has pieced together the events of that day, emphasizing that Kinney was not excessively drunk and was a strong swimmer.
Kinney was on a rented pontoon boat with 11 other individuals, most of whom were over 21, including a schoolteacher. The group was spending the day on the lake, drinking, swimming, and jumping off a local landmark known as 'Sex Rock.' According to VanHoose, Kinney and five others disembarked from the boat to relieve themselves in the water. While they were in the water, the boat began to move away.
"They had all gotten back on and were driving away and they realized that Marly was not on the boat," VanHoose recounted. "One of the girls said 'where is Marly?' and realized she was not there."
Attempts to circle back and locate Kinney were unsuccessful, as other boaters had not seen her. The group on the pontoon boat reportedly screamed and searched for her before returning to the marina, where they contacted emergency services around 4:30 p.m. to report her missing. Police spent four days searching the lake before her body was found.
VanHoose stated that her sister was physically fit and a good swimmer, and friends on the boat indicated she was not so intoxicated that she would be unable to swim or would have blacked out. The circumstances of how all 11 people on board failed to notice Kinney was not present, and why she was unable to reboard the vessel in time, remain unclear.
Two photographs taken shortly before Kinney's disappearance show her in a pink-orange bikini. The photos were taken on her new camera, which she had not yet figured out how to set correctly, resulting in a December 23, 2025 date stamp. Another photo, taken by a family on a different boat around 2:19 p.m., showed Kinney on top of 'Sex Rock' with two other women.
VanHoose believes Kinney disappeared between 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. The group on the boat expressed remorse, and VanHoose stated she does not entirely blame any single individual on the boat, though she remains angry about the situation.
Following the report of Kinney's disappearance, 23-year-old Cameron Conley was arrested at the marina for allegedly operating the boat while intoxicated. His citation indicated he reported being unable to locate a female passenger. However, VanHoose clarified that Conley was not the primary operator of the boat when Kinney was left behind and that he took the boat out again by himself to search for her after everyone else had disembarked at the marina. Conley allegedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.137.
Kinney was employed at Smokin' J's Rib and Brewhouse, where she was remembered as a 'model employee.' The restaurant announced plans to provide grief counseling for its staff following her death. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife stated that the State Medical Examiner's Office would determine the official cause of death.
Friends and family have posted tributes online, mourning Kinney and expressing their grief over the circumstances of her death. One friend, Baylie Hanshaw, wrote, "I will never understand why this happened to you, there’s so many things I wish could have been avoided and done differently."