Sheriff: 2 gallons of alcohol purchased before fatal Tahoe boat accident

May 19-On a June day last year, Over the Moon, a 28-foot-long Chris-Craft, sped across Lake Tahoe. Joshua Pickles, an executive at DoorDash and the owner of the boat, and three others on board had an errand to run on the other side of the lake before picking up friends and family for a celebration of his mother's 71st birthday.

The group docked at the harbor in South Lake Tahoe and went to Riva Grill, a lakeside restaurant and bar, where they purchased "two gallons of Wet Woody's," according to information recently released by the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office. A Wet Woody is a signature drink of Riva Grill and Gar Woods, two well-established lakefront restaurants in Tahoe. It's essentially a frozen rum punch that's infamous for being a stiff, strong alcoholic beverage. Two gallons is enough for about 32 8-ounce cocktails.

Hours later, the boat capsized in a microburst that suddenly broke out on Lake Tahoe on June 21, 2025. Eight of the 10 occupants on board drowned, including Pickles and his parents. It was the deadliest boating accident in Lake Tahoe's recent history and likely the deadliest in California since 2019, when 34 people died in a fire on a boat offshore of Ventura County. The U.S. Coast Guard declared it a major marine casualty and the National Transportation Safety Board conducted an investigation last year, reporting that the eight people who died were not wearing personal flotation devices.

New information has surfaced about the accident in a pair of reports the sheriff's office released to SFGATE after a public records request, including details about the circumstances leading up to the boat capsizing, how much alcohol was on board and a first-person account from one of the survivors, who tried to hand out personal flotation devices to the other passengers before the boat capsized.

The reports note how much alcohol the passengers purchased before the capsizing, but did not provide more information about who on board was drinking, how much alcohol was consumed or whether it impaired their ability to put on life jackets. El Dorado County Coroner's Office conducted toxicology tests for alcohol and other drugs and found no evidence that any alcoholic beverage or drugs were a factor in the accident.

SFGATE sent the sheriff's department a list of follow-up questions about the purchased alcohol and the toxicology report, inquiring about how much time had passed between the accident and the report. However, the sheriff's office did not respond before publication. SFGATE called Riva Grill for comment, but did not receive a response before publication.

Witness account depicts horrifying day on Lake Tahoe

After the detour to Riva Grill, Pickles picked up the rest of the passengers at the Homewood marina on Tahoe's West Shore around noon and drove the group to Emerald Bay, where they anchored for about an hour and a half. That day, weather conditions started clear and calm and the National Weather Service issued no marine warnings or advisories for Lake Tahoe, but in the afternoon, a fast-developing storm dramatically altered conditions. By 2 p.m., the sky darkened and rain began to pour. Winds rattled the surface of the lake, creating large waves.

When the weather started to change, Pickles pulled up the anchor and began to motor back to Homewood, according to the reports, but as the waves grew larger and the rain turned to hail, he turned back around to Emerald Bay. Amy Friduss, one of the survivors, told sheriff's deputies that the men onboard debated whether to stay in Emerald Bay or go back to Homewood. In the end, they made another attempt to return to the Homewood marina.

The storm worsened as the boat left Emerald Bay. Friduss described "marble-sized hail" falling from the sky and 10-foot waves breaking over the sides and the bow of the boat. Engine codes from the boat showed a "high water alarm" at 2:46 p.m. and a "blown fuse" at 2:48 p.m. They were 50 to 100 yards offshore from D.L. Bliss State Park, near Rooster Rock.

Some of the passengers attempted to bail water out of the boat with a Yeti cooler. Friduss told sheriff's deputies that she put on a life jacket and handed life jackets to the other passengers, but no one else immediately put theirs on. Soon, it would be too late.

When the boat started to take on water, there was "no sense of urgency," Friduss told El Dorado County sheriff's deputies. Pickles and the other occupants started to argue as the wind pushed the boat sideways, making them more vulnerable to waves crashing on top of them. (Pickles, who was driving, had purchased the boat less than a year prior to the incident and had taken it out just twice before.)

"All of the sudden the boat flipped," one account of the accident states.

The boat ejected all of its occupants into the water. Friduss told officers that, while they were in the water and swimming for their lives, the rain and hail turned to snow.

No one called 911 from the boat, according to the sheriff's reports. However, a group of hikers on the Rubicon Trail saw the boat capsize and called 911 at 2:58 p.m. They were hiking to Lester Beach at D.L. Bliss State Park and witnessed the capsizing unfold from the trail, unable to help from their position high above the water, above steep cliffs.

A marine unit from the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office was first to arrive on scene at 3:08 p.m., followed shortly by emergency responders from California State Parks, North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District, Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District, South Lake Tahoe Fire Department and South Lake Tahoe Police Department.

Witnesses and first responders described multiple people in the water. Some were holding onto the capsized boat. One person who was not wearing a life jacket went underwater and did not resurface for at least three minutes. Another person was reportedly floating face down in the water.

Authorities retrieved eight of the 10 occupants, including six victims who were declared dead on scene.

Emergency responders put two female survivors, who both had hypothermia, into an ambulance and transported them to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada.

The remaining two victims were found in the days following the accident. On June 22, Washoe County sheriff's deputies used a remote-operated vehicle to retrieve one body resting on the bottom of the lake, at 220 feet below the surface of the water. Authorities recovered the last missing victim on June 23. They found the body at the bottom of the lake, 330 feet underwater.

Investigators found multiple life jackets that were unused, still on board the vessel, including one still in its plastic packaging and with tags, an infant life vest still in its packaging and five life jackets in a stowage compartment.

Pickles died alongside his mother and father, Paula Bozinovich and Terry Pickles, and five of their friends and family members: Peter Bayes, Timothy O'Leary, Theresa Giullari, James Guck and Stephen Lindsay.

'An unimaginable loss'

Almost a year after the tragedy, the deaths of the Pickles family and their friends remains "an unimaginable loss," said Sam Singer, who represents Joshua's widow, Jordan Sugar-Carlsgaard, and her family. Jordan stayed behind that day to care for their infant. They are "doing their best to heal and rebuild their lives," Singer said.

Sugar-Carlsgaard did not wish to comment on the sheriff's reports. "Their focus continues to be on honoring the lives lost, supporting one another and moving forward privately with dignity," Singer said in an email to SFGATE on Monday.

This story has been updated.

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This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 10:51 AM.