Tyler Doyle 911 tapes reveal what happened the afternoon his boat sank while duck hunting

Four 911 calls were made the evening Tyler Doyle’s 16-foot jon boat began to take on water and sink.

The first call came into the 911 center at 4:56 p.m. Jan. 26, the night the missing 20-something boater went missing, according to tapes received through a FOIA request by The Sun News.

The Sun News has decided not to release one of the 911 calls because the news value does not exceed the pain it might cause the family. Some details of the call are included in this story.

Tyler Doyle and his wife never called 911 directly. Doyle is said to have called friends and family for help while he was in distress.

The 911 calls align with what officials with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources have said previously about the investigation of the missing boater. The SCDNR has said that no foul play is suspected in the case of Doyle, who is from Loris.

The SCDNR has said that Doyle and friend were duck hunting when Doyle dropped off a friend on the north jetty in Little River and then went to scout out ducks. Doyle had called his friend, stating that the boat was taking on water.

The SCDNR said a 911 call initiated the muti-agency search that included the U.S. Coast Guard, Horry County Fire Rescue and North Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue.

That first call came from a person who identified himself as the friend on the boat with Doyle. The caller’s name was redacted from the tape and no law enforcement agency has released his name to date.

The caller alerts the 911 operator that he is stuck in the ocean and that his friend, Tyler Doyle, is on a boat that is sinking. The caller sounds frantic and strong wind can be heard in the background of the call, as the caller tells the operator that he is on the jetties in Little River.

“I’m standing on the jetty rocks,” the caller tells the operator. “The motor cut off on the boat and it’s drifting out in the ocean and he’s in it and it’s sinking.”

The 911 operator then asks if anybody is in the boat and who.

The caller then states, “Tyler, a buddy of mine.”

“I don’t even see him no more,” the caller says, “he’s drifted out past the jetties in the ocean.”

The caller said that Tyler had put on his life jacket and there was a firearm on the boat because they had been hunting.

The caller tries to flag down a passing boat, but the boat did not see him.

The caller then hangs up telling the 911 operator that he was going to try to call Tyler again.

At 5:01 p.m., the first caller called 911 again, indicating that he could not make contact with Tyler.

“I cannot see him,” he said, adding that the last time he saw him that the boat was sinking, and “now I can’t get him to answer.”

The 911 operator asks: “What do you see?”

The caller replies: “All I see is the ocean and there’s a boat here now going out in the ocean. I’ve got, I’ve got communication with them and they were helping me try to look to see if they could find him and to get him off the boat.”

The caller tells the operator that he is standing on the jetty rocks and that Tyler had dropped him off.

“We were hunting. And he dropped me off on the jetty rocks to stand here while he took the boat and went out and tried to jump up some ducks. And the motor cut off on the boat.”

A 911 call log states that responding officials reported at 5:09 p.m. that they were searching the area for the other boater and no one can be found.

At 5:14 p.m., officials report that no person can be found in the area, 800 yards off the shore. The boat was found on its side.

Doyle’s boat was found submerged with the bow up and motor down, with only a foot of the boat showing above water, according to the SCDNR.

The 911 log reports that a helicopter was requested and a search of the shoreline is reported at 6:34 p.m.

A woman identifying herself as an aunt of Tyler Doyle calls 911 at 6:33 p.m. to report the incident, but then apologizes when she says, “I think we may have just found him.”

She reports that she is at the Wind Jammer boat ramp and becomes highly emotional when she is told by another person that Tyler had not been found. The woman begins to sob loudly and pray.

A fourth call to 911 is made by a friend, but it is unclear what time that call came in.

The caller tells the 911 operator that his buddy, who he identifies at Tyler Doyle, is on the waterway and he is sinking. The caller says he tried to call Doyle “but he’s not answering anymore.”

The caller said he was at work when Tyler called him and he hasn’t answered his phone “in like 10 minutes.”

The 911 call log reports that Doyle’s cellphone was pinged at 7:21 p.m. but the phone was not powered on.

The SCDNR, as well as other agencies, have continued to search for Doyle in South Carolina and North Carolina.

On Jan. 31, Doyle’s waders and wallet were found off the North Carolina coast.

This story was originally published March 2, 2023 at 3:11 PM.

Terri Richardson

The Sun News