Cause of death released for teenage boater found on Waccamaw

The 17-year-old whose boat crashed in Murrells Inlet this week drowned in the Waccamaw River, according to autopsy results released Wednesday.

An autopsy performed Wednesday morning revealed Jacob Perry Lee Causey’s cause of death was drowning after a small vessel he was operating struck Channel Marker 57 at Wacca Wache Marina in Murrells Inlet, said Kenny Johnson, Georgetown County Coroner.

Causey also suffered a minor head injury, most likely during the crash, according to Johnson.

The incident and its exact cause are still under investigation by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Robert McCullough, DNR spokesman, said Wednesday.

Causey, who was an avid outdoorsman and knew the river well, had experienced some motor trouble with the boat he was operating prior to the crash, according to friends waiting along the Waccamaw River during the search for Causey on Tuesday morning. The crash happened about 8 p.m. Monday.

Anxiety swelled as many friends and family waited by the river, at times searching the dark waters themselves, prior to Causey’s discovery at about 10:50 a.m. Tuesday.

A 20-year-old male friend of Causey’s was on board during the incident, who was also tossed into the water during the crash; he was found immediately and taken to Grand Strand Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries, officials said.

Causey was a junior in high school at Calvary Christian School in Myrtle Beach and had been a student there since he was a toddler, according to principal Mark Roland.

“Everyone is finding different, little ways to remember and honor him,” Roland said of students there Wednesday morning.

This story was originally published May 25, 2016 at 2:02 PM with the headline "Cause of death released for teenage boater found on Waccamaw."