{"id":318090,"date":"2026-06-24T13:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T13:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/318090\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T13:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T13:44:08","slug":"witnesses-sought-after-womans-body-washes-ashore-after-possible-boat-strike-nbc-6-south-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/318090\/","title":{"rendered":"Witnesses sought after woman\u2019s body washes ashore after possible boat strike \u2013 NBC 6 South Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

Investigators are asking witnesses to come forward three weeks after a woman’s body washed ashore at Hollywood Beach<\/a> after authorities suspect she was hit by a boat, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a video statement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The body of 31-year-old Kellie Melinda Williams was discovered on June 3, and the FWC said it had injuries consistent with a vessel strike.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Kellie<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFamily photosFamily photos<\/p>\n

Kellie Melinda Williams<\/p>\n

Two fishermen saw the body in the surf near New Mexico Street and called authorities, FWC officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo fishermen were fishing right off the beach, and I saw them from my window pulling something, then I saw them drag something onto the shoreline,\u201d witness Emilio Benitez said. \u201cAnd it turned out to be a lady\u2019s body.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hollywood Police said it appeared she had been snorkeling or diving<\/a> earlier that day in the area of Dr. Von D Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park when a watercraft struck her head.<\/p>\n

FWC officials said they believed she entered the ocean at around 10:30 a.m. through Beach Access 1. She was wearing a light blue shirt, black shorts and she had a floating dive flag with her.<\/p>\n

Investigators want anyone who was in the area between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. “who may have witnessed an incident involving her or has information about vessels operating in that area up to approximately 1 mile offshore to call the Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-3922.”<\/p>\n

Tips can be made anonymously. <\/p>\n

Williams mourned by family and colleagues<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 parents initially spoke with NBC6 by phone but said they were too distraught to appear on camera. They shared family photos and described their daughter as a great person and an accomplished snorkeler.<\/p>\n

Her father spoke to NBC6 again on Tuesday, describing his daughter as someone who loved South Florida, God’s creators and especially hockey, describing her as a Kings fan at heart. <\/p>\n

He said she was doing everything right, and now, it would be good to have closure. <\/p>\n

Williams was recently married and was a flight attendant for American Airlines. She is originally from California and recently moved to South Florida, where she lived in Hollywood. <\/p>\n

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague,” American Airlines said in a statement. “Our thoughts and support are with her family, loved ones and colleagues at this time.”<\/p>\n

The incident remains under investigation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Investigators are asking witnesses to come forward three weeks after a woman’s body washed ashore at Hollywood Beach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[3961,249,251,250,686],"class_list":["post-318090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fish-and-wildlife-conservation-commission","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-hollywood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}