THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997 TAG: 9701140225
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH AND ANNE SAITA, staff writers
DATELINE: COROLLA LENGTH: 147 lines
The survivor of a tragedy that killed his son and at least two others fought for life for 14 hours in near-freezing water because he had promised to pass on a dying companion's final words to his wife.
``Before he died, Johnny gave me a message to give to Sherri,'' Michael LaBounty said Monday. ``I had to survive.
``I thought about songs, hymns, Christmas songs, country rock. I watched birds, the flow of the water. I just tried to stay focused on anything. God, I wanted to go to sleep. But I had to live. I had a message to get to Sherri.
``I thought of a thousand things,'' the stocky, 5-foot-10 aviation mechanic at Oceana Naval Air Station said after joining in the search here for another friend who is presumed dead but whose body has not been found. ``I knew I had to live. I wanted to see my wife again. And I was worried about Billie Jean.''
The missing man is Philip Boedker, 51, of Chesapeake. He and his wife, Billie Jean, had planned to celebrate their wedding anniversary Friday.
LaBounty's 8-year-old son, Mike Jr., died in his father's arms after their 17-foot outboard boat was swamped on a hunting trip Saturday in Currituck Sound.
LaBounty's hunting buddy, John Milton Melson, 33, and his son, John Sidney Melson, 6, of Moyock, also died. Melson's final message to his wife, Sherri, was private, his friend said.
On Monday, less than 24 hours after being released from an Elizabeth City hospital, LaBounty, 29, two brothers and their father joined the effort to find Boedker and LaBounty's 5-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever, Winchester.
``I have to find Philip,'' LaBounty said. ``He's the only piece left to find. I want to find my dog. But we have to find Philip.''
Units from Corolla Fire and Rescue, Corolla Emergency Operations, the North Carolina Marine Patrol, and two wings of the Civil Air Patrol were at the scene. A Navy helicopter, part of a nearby training exercise, also provided aerial surveillance in the search.
In all, five boats, two helicopters, and two airplanes combed the waters for the missing hunter.
Sniffing dogs - a Doberman and an English Spaniel - were brought into the search as well.
By late Monday afternoon, searchers had narrowed their focus to the waters near the Whalehead Club at Corolla.
LaBounty said some earlier accounts of the tragedy were incorrect. He said he was dressed in hunting clothes, with Neoprene socks and gloves and a coat. He clung to the boat with a rope when it filled with water early Saturday shortly after the hunting party left Waterlily.
Fog was not a factor in the incident, LaBounty said. ``It was light when we went out, about 6:45,'' he said. ``There wasn't any fog.''
Several other hunting parties were in the area Saturday, and returned safely, authorities said.
``The boat never turned over,'' LaBounty said. ``We started having engine trouble. I don't know what the problem with the motor was; I've never had problems with it before.''
A wave came over the bow, filling the boat with water. However, LaBounty said, that did not cause the boat to sink.
``Philip was in the back left of the boat,'' LaBounty said. ``We were trying to get the water out. I turned the boat sort of sideways, and was trying to surf it. The weight shifted to the back, and the boat just went straight down.''
LaBounty said Boedker was the first to go into the water.
``I threw him a seat cushion, and he grabbed hold of that, and then I threw him a life preserver. But he held on to the cushion. I don't think he wanted to let go, because he was propped up in the water. Then after about 30 seconds, he was gone.''
Once the boat went down, LaBounty, his son, and the Melsons were in the icy waters. Clinging to the bow, LaBounty held on to his son. He also held on to his friend, Johnny Melson, whose son was carried off by the wind-swept, 40-degree waters. Air temperatures were in the mid-30s.
``I held on to my son. But after about 90 minutes, he died of hypothermia, or shock or something. I emptied out some gas cans and tied them and a buoy onto him, so that they'd be able to find him.''
LaBounty managed to hold onto his friend for a while, ``but he started babbling and his eyes got big. Then he was gone. I tied duck decoys to Johnny so that they could find him.''
LaBounty also removed heads from some of the decoys, releasing them into the current into the direction where John Sidney Melson's body had disappeared.
``I tried to cut loose a couple of decoys into the current,'' LaBounty said. ``It was so cold, I dropped my knife. I tried to chew the knots with my teeth, but they were too tight. It was just so cold.''
Family members call LaBounty's survival a miracle.
``What he did was incredible,'' said a brother, Sam LaBounty of Moyock. ``I feel like the will to live and good equipment saved his life. To be strong enough to hang on for that long, and to tie gas cans and a buoy on little Mike, and decoys on Johnny so they would be found, I don't know if I'd be that strong. I mean, his friend and his boy died in his arms. It was amazing. Everything was going against him. He lasted 14 hours in cold water. It's incredible.''
Coast Guard officials have said the survival rate without special cold-weather gear ranges from 30 minutes to 2 1/2 hours.
LaBounty's waist-high waders provided some protection, said his wife, Shannon, and he tried to constantly move around to keep his body warm.
The Coast Guard said LaBounty was suffering from severe hypothermia when he was airlifted aboard a helicopter. He was treated and released from Albemarle Hospital.
``Fourteen hours? I don't know how he lived,'' said Sam Mickey, a paramedic and chief of the Pasquotank County Rescue Squad.
Hunting was in the blood of all five who were in the boat when tragedy struck.
Relatives said the young LaBounty received a shotgun for Christmas. His grandfather, Richard LaBounty Sr. of Moyock, said Michael couldn't wait for his first hunting trip.
``The first thing out of his mouth was, `I'm going to get to do some real hunting.' He was so excited.''
Michael LaBounty Jr. lived in Suffolk with his mother, Sonia Upshaw.
``Michael - he loved to go duck hunting with his dad. He absolutely loved it,'' Upshaw said Monday. ``He went every chance that he could. That was one of the big excitements in his life.''
She said that she knew LaBounty ``did everything that he could to save our son.''
Bobbie Boedker, 55, of Portsmouth was in Corolla to search for his brother.
``Philip would rather hunt than eat when he was hungry,'' Boedker said. ``In my mind, I know he's gone. But in my heart, I still believe we'll find him and he'll be all right. How do you tell your heart not to believe something? But he was a Christian. He's in a better place.''
Donnie Beacham, Currituck County's emergency services director, said about 50 rescue personnel, many of them volunteers, joined in the search. Beacham said the search would continue this morning.
Boedker was described as a ``total family man, kind, courteous,'' by Denise Bates, a friend of the family. ``He was a great guy.``
Bates said Boedker, who worked at the Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, had two children, Kelly, 19, and Phillip Jr., 31. Boedker's wife, Billie Jean, was at the scene of the tragedy, joining in the search.
``He was the type of person who would do anything for anybody,`` said Carol Dominici, a friend and neighbor. ``I'm saying `was' - I hope it's not the case, but so far it looks like it is.''
A memorial fund for the LaBounty family has been set up at Northern Shores Elementary School, Suffolk, Va., 23435. Michael was a second-grader at the school.
A memorial fund for the Melson family has been set up at Coinjock Baptist Church, Coinjock, N.C., 27923.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Michael LaBounty Sr., center, tied floating objects to his son,
Mike, near left, and his friend John Melson, far left after the
succumbed. Melson's son John was carried away by the waves. The
search contined Monday for Philip Boedker.
Color photo by Drew C. Wilson/The Virginian-Pilot
One still missing
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT BOAT U.S COAST GUARD RESCUE FATALITY
NORTH CAROLINA