BLADEN COUNTY, NC (WWAY) -- Investigators say two bodies were pulled from the Cape Fear River near Elizabethtown after an apparent jet ski accident.
Ofc. Clarence White with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission says around 6:55 a.m. two fishermen found the body of one of the victims near Lock and Dam No. 2. White says when investigators arrived, they found another body in the water nearby.
The victims have been identified as Thomas Bradley Carter, 30, of Pembroke, and Charlotte Paige McLellan, 27, of Lumberton. Carter was a Robeson County Sheriff's deputy.
White says it appears Carter and McLellan were heading upstream toward Lock & Dam No. 2 when they hit a tree that had been blown over into the river. Both were wearing life jackets.
He says investigators believe the accident happened sometime after dark yesterday. It is illegal to operate a jet ski outside of the hours between sun up and sundown, White said.
White says a family member reported the victims missing around 9 a.m.
