A witness claims there was nothing Nathan Rhinewalt could have done to avoid a deadly boating crash that took place on the Rez last month.
Two boats crashed at 1 AM on the upper lake on September on September 20, resulting in the death of Madison Alford, 23, of Lena. Four other people suffered injuries while two escaped injury. The boats were driven by Nathan Rhinewalt and Nelson Jiminez.
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| Credit: WLBT |
Reservoir police charged Rhinewalt with three counts of aggravated BUI and one count of manslaughter in the death of Madison Alford, Rankin County Court Judge David Morrow set Rhinewalt's bond at $550,000.
Jiminez stands accused of culpable negligence manslaughter, Aggravated BUI andwitness tampering. Judge Morrow set his bond at $550,000. Both men remain in custody.
The police report states
On Sunday, September 20, 2026, at approximately 0143 hours, I, Sgt. Brittany DeRosla-Black, responded to Tommy's Trading Post regarding a two-vessel boating accident with Injuries. Upon arrival, I made contact with one of the two boat operators, Identified as Mr. Nathan Lane Rhinewalt (DOB: 04/07/2005), and one of his passengers, Identified as Mr. Cade Garon Aylesworth.
Mr. Rhinewalt stated he was traveling in the middle of the river channel when he saw another vessel traveling towards the starboard side of his vessel. Mr. Rhinewalt stated he saw blue strip lights on the side of the approaching vessel, but he did not see any navigation lights on the other vessel. Mr. Rhinewalt stated he attempted to steer left to avoid a collision. Mr. Rhinewalt stated the other vessel made contact with the starboard side of his vessel, causing disabling damage to both vessels. Mr. Rhinewalt stated there were five Individuals total on his vessel and two total on the other vessel. Mr. Rhinewalt stated there were several injuries and he woke up in the water after the collision.
At approximately 0230 hours, while speaking with Mr. Rhinewalt, I smelled the odor of an Intoxicating beverage coming from his person. I asked Mr. Rhinewalt if he consumed any alcohol; he replled yes. Mr. Rhinewalt stated he had four beers and two mixed drinks, and his last sip of alcohol was around 1:30 AM. Mr. Rhinewalt consented to a PBT (Portable Breath Test), which resulted in a positive presence of alcohol on his breath.
At approximately 0301 hours, Mr. Rhinewalt was placed under arrest for BUI and transported to the Reservoir Police Department, located at 100 Reservoir Park Road, Brandon, MS 39047. At approximately 0320 hours, upon arrival at the PD, Mr. Rhinewalt consented to the Intoxilyzer 9000. The Intoxilyzer gave an error message that read "Standard Check Falled".
At approximately 0410 hours, I transported Mr. Rhinewalt to Merit Health River Oaks, located at 1030 River Oaks Drive, Flowood, MS 39232. Mr. Rhinewalt signed a consent form for a blood analysis. The evidence was collected and sealed at the hospital, then transported back to Reservolr PD. Mr. Rhinewalt also recelved three stitches to his right eye, near his eyebrow.
At approximately 0659 hours, I transported Mr. Rhinewalt to Rankin County Detention Center for BUI MS Code 59-23-7 (4), with a court date set for October 13, 2026, at 9:00 AM....
Rhinewalt filed a motion to modify his bond, dismiss a duplicative count and a witness-tampering charge last week. The defendant argues testimony from a witness merits the dismissal of some charges as well as the reduction of bond.
Cade Aylesworth was a passenger on Rhinewalt's boat when the deadly collision took place. Aylesworth provided an affidavit that tells a slightly different story of what took place in those early morning hours.
Aylesworth said Nelson called him to find out where Rhinewalt's boat was. Aylesworth provided the the location to Nelson who allegedly said he would "be right there."
4. Nathan's boat had its navigation lights on before and at the time of the collision. 5. Immediately before the collision, Nathan was operating our boat in the center of the river's navigation charmel. Nelson's boat approached our boat from the right, traveling approximately perpendicular to our direction of travel. 6. Nelson's navigation lights were off as his boat approached. He did not turn those lights on until immediately before the collision. 7. By the time Nelson turned on his navigation lights, his boat was too close for Nathan to avoid the collision. Based on my personal observations, there was nothing Nathan could have done at that point to prevent the collision. Nathan reacted quickly by turning sharply to the left, which raised the right side of our boat. When Nelson's boat struck that side, the impact lifted our boat upwards rather than carrying Nelson's boat over the top of ours. Based on what I observed, I believe Nathan's quick reaction helped prevent more severe injuries to those aboard our boat.
Aylesworth took exception to any allegations Rhinewalt was drunk:
9. I was with Nathan aboard the boat and had the opportunity to observe him before the collision. Nathan did not appear to me to be impaired in any way and I did not observe Nathan drink any alcohol (or anyone else, for that matter) during the time that we were out on the water. I would not, personally, have gotten in the boat with Nathan driving if I had thought he was impaired in any way.
A name familiar to JJ readers popped up at the end of the affidavit:
I0. All of the aforementioned statements were previously given to Corporal Brady Chamblee on or about Sunday, September 20, 2026. Jamie Barnett with Game & Fish was also present.
It is not known if Officer Chamblee lost his taser or called a drug dog.
Rhinewalt argued the charges for manslaughter and aggravated BUI be dismissed:
1Defendant would further show that, during his probation-revocation hearing in the Scott County Circuit Court on October 6, 2026, Sgt. Brittany Black testified that statements from other witnesses corroborated Aylesworth’s account of the cause of the collision. When undersigned counsel asked Sgt. Black to identify any evidence that Defendant had negligently operated his boat, she refused to answer. Defendant submits that the corroborated eyewitness account, together with the absence of identified evidence of negligent operation by Defendant, undermines any finding of probable cause as to the charged offenses requiring negligent causation. Accordingly, unless the State presents evidence establishing probable cause to believe that Defendant’s negligent conduct caused the alleged death or injuries, Defendant respectfully requests dismissal of the aggravated-boating-under-the-influence charges and the culpable-negligence manslaughter charge.
The defendant pleaded guilty to statutory rape in Scott County Circuit Court in May 2025. The victim was between 14 and 16 while Rhinewalt was 19 years old when the crime was committed. The Court sentenced him to serve five years in prison but suspended the entire sentence. The Court held a hearing and revoked his bond.
The motion posits one count of aggravated BUI duplicates the other two counts since they all name the same victims and thus should be dismissed. Prosecutors charged Rhinewalt with witness tampering, alleging he tried to get Aylesworth to "testify falsely." However, claimed the defendant, the charge should be attributed to Nelson Jiminez and thus should be dismissed or clarified.
Jiminez is charged with manslaughter, two counts of aggravated BUI resulting in injury or death, aggravated BUI, and witness tampering.
A hearing is scheduled for October 27. Attorney James Murphy represents Rhinewalt.
17 comments:
hello attorney james murphy..............please check into the history of brady chamblee.
his mere presence will prove to be toxic to this investigation, as the kingfish has already proven.
Sad thing. Grandad always said,” Ain’t no good in no bottle.” Meaning liquor.
If Nathan Rhinewalt had exercised his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent...
I'm no expert boater but isn't the rule of thumb to always turn RIGHT to avoid a collision? Also if someone is coming at you from the right you're supposed to get out of their way. So it sounds like Rhinewalt screwed up.
Lock em all up Both boat operators had been drinking and one of them admitted to it. Lock em up or put em both operators in a cell together and last man standing wins.
How damn fast were these boats traveling @ 0130 hrs in the morning darkness to cause this mayhem???
I've been in a boat on open water at night, and going at top speed is very scary. You cannot see what you are about to be upon. You just have to trust nothing is there.
I was a passenger in a boat crash on the reservoir. It was at lunch time on a beautiful sunny day. No one was drinking alcohol. I wouldn’t get on another boat for about 15 years, unless I was driving.
The boat I was on landed on top of another boat and broke the back of one of the passengers. The other passengers were small children and the fiberglass sides of the boat were higher than the children when they were slammed to the floor of the boat.
I’ve been on the water at night and you do not have to be impaired for it to be dangerous, but being impaired would be asking for disaster.
I assume the collision occurred on the Rankin County side of the channel. Is it possible they have brought this case in the wrong county?
These high end duck boats now days are built and tuned for speeds most people would not imagine they’re capable of. There’s big money in racing some of these boats. As someone extremely familiar with boating, the Rez/river, and these boats, this sounds 100% Jimenez fault, except both were drunk. Did they even know each other? Or know to be on the lookout for the other? My bet is Jimenez (likely here illegally) got one of these boats with his Friday paycheck, got drunk and took it up river to impress some senorita. Jimenez never took a boaters safety course or learned anything about boats, and thought every boat safely driving wanted to race.
Deport him and his friends to the Congo. People are aick of this kind of shit.
Yes he could have avoided the crash. Don't drink and drive.
To “always turn one direction” is a dumb rule if that actually is a rule. Having taught boating safety and been a vessel examiner for the USCG Auxiliary, now retired, I have never heard of such nonsense. Be alert and evaluate your situation and react to the conditions you observe.
This is not intended to defend Jimenez or absolve him of fault here but....this is some of the most ignorant, prejudicial, and performative bullshit I have ever seen. How someone with your inability to think was able to compose a post on here is baffling. You, @10:05, are a bigot and a blight on modern society. Nothing more. I am all for illegal immigrants being ICE-d up and potentially deported. You get minimal rights as a non-citizen. But your assumptions and conjecture here are garbage and simply based on a surname with nothing else upon which to base a claim. You give Conservatives a bad name.
(Disclaimer: I fully expect a "wanna fight about it" type response here from this neanderthal, and that's okay)
I am a very seasoned boater. I have boated at night and have done stupid stuff when I was younger. These tiller handle duck boats, Havoc, Edge, Reaper, etc are all built for speed. I call them tiller handles and turtle boxes because they haul ass everywhere and can turn on a dime, and all have a turtlebox blaring. I am betting none of them had a GPS, much less radar. Boating at night is dangerous. Boating at night with one drink in you is stupid. You're automatically in some sh!t if something goes south and you have alcohol on your breath. Having any light on your boat(blue rope lights) is illegal. The only legal lights you can have running are your red/green Nav lights and your white stern light. Most of these boats are lit up like a strip club. And a majority of them drive reckless.
Lives changed in an instant.
A young woman died and her husband was injured in this collision. Two young girls lost their mother that night.
7:40 - The "always turn right" rule is for when both boats are coming at each other head on. They said Rhinewalt turned left at the last second and his boat was hit on the right, so they were probably coming at each other pretty close to head on. But elsewhere they say the other boat was coming from their right side. In that case the other boat was supposed to keep going straight and they were the ones who were supposed to turn. They said the other boat didn't have its nav lights on but they saw it, so I'm not sure how that is supposed to have stopped Rhinewalt from avoiding the collision (and they didn't try to explain it, either).
"A young woman died and her husband was injured in this collision. Two young girls lost their mother that night."
This whole situation is incredibly sad. Lives changed in an instant. I do want to bring up the point that a mother and father of two young kids were out at a bar and on the water at 1:30am after drinking while their kids were at home. I am a white country person, but this is the white country person equivalent to having your kid in the car at the trap house when it goes south. You should have never put yourself and your kids in that situation. I used to run the MS River hunting and running lines. I crossed it once at 2Am at super high flood stage running trot lines drunk as an Cooter Brown along with the rest of my boat full of friends. I am thankful I am here to tell about it. Once I got married and had a kid, I no longer play on that river like I used to. I have people counting on me at home.
1) The account of how many were aboard the boat that was t-boned seems to have varied from earlier accounts.
2) Which boat was carrying the girl who died?
3) I didn't read where a second blow at the station took place. Vic Carmody will have a field day with that.
4) Now, this: "I'm no expert boater but isn't the rule of thumb to always turn RIGHT to avoid a collision? Also if someone is coming at you from the right you're supposed to get out of their way. So it sounds like Rhinewalt screwed up."
5) I believe there were two who said the boat piloted by Jimenez did not have his required navigation lights on or either flipped them on just before impact, so there's no way the driver of the t-boned boat could "get out of their way". There are boating rules. There are not rules of thumb. You don't turn right when a boat approaches you from a perpendicular angle.
6) Rope lights, colored lights, any lights other than the required red/green bow light are illegal when installed and lit up on boats that are underway.
7) The poster who accused Jimenez of being 'an illegal' also suggested that the two boat drivers didn't even know each other, while the police report states that Jimenez telephoned the impacted boat's passenger to ask where the impacted boat was and Jimenez said he would be at that location soon - Apparently they do know each other, which is irrelevant.
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