Investigators trying to connect dots in boating accident

BRICK — Authorities are attempting to put together a time line to help them determine where the owner of a speedboat was before and after a fatal collision on the Metedeconk River early Sunday.

Law enforcement sources close to the investigation said that they are looking at cell phone records and credit card receipts, and interviewing people who saw Anthony Digilio before and after the crash that took the life of a banking executive from Essex Fells.

Investigators are trying to determine whether Digilio's 27-foot Imperial powerboat was the one that struck a 17-foot Boston Whaler shorter after 1 a.m.

Digilio, of Brick, arranged for State Police to take his boat Monday after he said learned about the crash.

He told his lawyer he was on the water at that time and struck something, but he said he believed it to be a log.

Authorities said that among their questions is why Digilio did not stop his boat and see what he had hit even though he realized that the vessel was taking on water.

Digilio told his lawyer, William P. Cunningham, that he had noticed that a bilge pump was on, assumed he was taking on water, and headed for a spot to take the boat out of the water and survey the damage.

Digilio and a passenger never saw or heard anything while they were traveling on the river when they hit something they believed was a log, Cunningham said.

The collision took the life of Robert Post, 49, who was aboard the Whaler.

Four other people aboard that vessel were hurt, including Post's wife, Bonnie, 52, who was released Wednesday from the Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where all four passengers were taken following the crash.

The Posts have summered in Bay Head, where they have been members of the yacht club.
Joan Farren, 46, of St. Davids, Pa., remained in the hospital at Jersey Shore in fair condition, hospital officials said. Her husband, Cliff Farren, 44, and Karen Kelly, 46, of Norcross, Ga., had been treated at the hospital and released.

Margaret F. Bonafide (732) 557-5740 or bonafide@app.com