The man convicted of killing three Columbus County residents in a boat wreck on the county line in 2020 was the first person convicted under tougher law.
Matthew Ferster was convicted of death by impaired boating in August, and will serve up to 18 years in prison. He took a plea deal in the deaths of Megan Lynn, Jennifer Hayes and Garrett Smith. Ferster, 36, was impaired when he crashed his boat into another vessel carrying the three victims, along with Travis Suggs and Anna Suggs, according to the Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC). Travis Suggs was operating the boat, and was originally charged with boating while impaired. The Suggs siblings sustained minor injuries.
Fester
The crash occurred in Pireway on the Waccamaw River in March 2020, on a crowded Sunday afternoon days before the COVID-19 lockdowns were set to go into effect. Ferster was heading downstream in an 18’ boat that struck Suggs’ 16’ foot boat on a bend in the river.
Smith was thrown overboard, and his body was not located for several days. Search crews found the body downstream, a few hours before the funeral of his girlfriend, Lynn. The couple had twin sons.
The victims were all from Columbus County, and Ferster is from Shallotte.
Ferster was originally charged with second degree murder, but the charges were later changed to felony death by voting. Until 2016, an impaired boating accident that resulted in a death was still a misdemeanor.
Boating while impaired (BWI) carries the same penalties as driving while impaired in North Carolina, and impairment is judged by the same standard, .08 blood alcohol. North Carolina was one of the first states to adopt a strict BWI law.
