Game wardens and state police continued Wednesday to investigate a boating accident on Long Lake that killed two people Saturday.

Police and game wardens were releasing few details about the accident early this week, citing an ongoing investigation that could lead to criminal charges.

Police were also withholding the names of the two victims – a man and a woman – who were recovered Tuesday morning after more than two days of intense searching.

Friends identified the man as Raye Trott of Naples, a fixture in town who was well known locally and well liked. The woman’s family has requested that police and media withhold her name. According to friends, Trott and the woman were dating.

Police were also withholding the names of a man and woman in the large cigarette-style motorboat that collided with Trott’s 14-foot fiberglass motorboat in the middle of Long Lake around 9:30 p.m. Police said the two survivors swam ashore after the collision and were treated at the scene by rescuers.

According to reports from authorities and eyewitnesses, the accident happened about 2,000 feet offshore in a part of the lake that is about 40 feet deep.

The accident

Trott and his female companion were in a boat floating motionless when the collision occurred. According to authorities, they were struck by a 34-foot, twin-engine motorboat traveling north toward Harrison. Upon impact, authorities said, the passengers of the larger boat were jettisoned but able to swim to shore. After impact, according to an eyewitness, the large cigarette boat careened out of control and slammed into shore between two houses on Bear Point Road finally coming to rest about 75 yards inland.

“I was on the deck when all of a sudden I see this boat coming toward shore. I told my husband, ‘Oh my God, that boat just came into the shore,'” said Grace Kuusela, of 108 Bear Point Road, who said she didn’t hear the initial collision but did see the cigarette-style boat run aground just 50 yards from her lakeside home.

According to Kuusela, the loud engine of the cigarette boat was “wide open” as it ran aground. The boat broke into two with the bow coming to rest about 75 yards from the shoreline on top of a small hill.

“You can still see where the props ground up the bushes and sand. I was afraid of a fire or an explosion as the motor was still roaring after it came ashore. It must have been stuck. A neighbor of ours had to go over and shut the engine off,” Kuusela said.

Kuusela’s husband, Elmer, immediately called 911. He and other neighbors then searched for survivors until authorities came. Harrison rescue personnel and a Cumberland County sheriff’s deputy responded within 30 minutes and treated the two survivors.

Authorities were unwilling to say whether Trott’s boat was anchored or not. Investigators were also unwilling to say whether his boat was illuminated, as state law requires for night boating. According to Grace Kuusela, the cigarette boat was brightly lit as she observed it careening toward shore.

“We are working with the district attorney’s office, and they have requested we not release anything that could undermine what is an active and ongoing criminal investigation,” said Mark Latti, spokesman for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

According to Latti, the smaller boat was “severely damaged and was not in tact” when it was found in “several large pieces” Monday on the bottom of the lake. Similar to reconstructing an airplane after a crash, state police are gathering the pieces of the boat and will try to reconstruct it, Latti said. Among the wreckage was a credit card belonging to Trott, Dorion said.

Bodies found

According to Pat Dorion, head of the warden service’s search and rescue operation, Game Warden Rick Stone found the female’s body at 10:08 a.m. Tuesday in about 40 feet of water adjacent to a debris field on the bottom of Long Lake.

Later on Tuesday, Game Warden Bruce Loring found Trott’s body at 11:45 a.m., about 100 yards from where the woman was found. Family and friends were immediately notified and invited by game wardens to view the scene.

In all, 27 law enforcement officials aided in the search for the bodies as well as debris from the two boats. As of Wednesday afternoon, divers and aircraft were still searching for remaining debris.

“We’ve been out here since Saturday night and we’re still recovering debris. Everyone’s tired, but we’re still fact-gathering. We’re not there yet,” Dorion said Tuesday afternoon.

On Tuesday at 12:30 p.m., after finding both bodies, game wardens invited about 25 family members and friends of the deceased to Bear Point Road to inform them of the discoveries.

“They were obviously grieving and distraught. But they were very thankful and appreciative. This brings closure for them,” said Dorion.

Friends remember victim

Russ and Kathy Sweet of Naples, who were friends of Trott, were among those who gathered near the accident scene to hear the news from wardens Tuesday afternoon.

According to the Sweets, real estate agents in Naples, the 55-year-old Trott was well known and well liked, “one of Naples’ most familiar faces.”

“Raye was liked by everyone. He was a fixture here in Naples. He was an honest and straightforward guy,” Russ Sweet said.

An avid guitarist, Trott and the Sweets were planning on attending a performance at Stone Mountain Arts Center in Parsonfield Friday night and are shocked and grief-stricken.

“We were all going to go to the concert, the four of us, Raye as well as his girlfriend. We still have their tickets. It’s crazy. You read these sorts of things in the newspaper but then it happens to someone you know. It’s just sad,” Sweet said.

Sweet said Trott had started dating a woman who tended bar at Bray’s Brew Pub & Eatery in Naples about five or six months ago and was probably on the boat with her at the time of the collision. Sweet said Trott owned a motorboat but hadn’t used it much in the past. Just recently, Sweet said, Trott had started using it more with his new girlfriend, whom he had met at Bray’s Brew Pub.

While no one at Bray’s wished to comment on the matter, the popular Naples restaurant erected a memorial sign out front of the restaurant Wednesday afternoon that read, “Forever in our hearts, Raye & Suzanne.”

Russell and Kathy Sweet are active in charities in the Lakes Region, most recently working for Habitat for Humanity building two homes in Naples across from the high school. Kathy Sweet said Trott donated time and money for Habitat as well as a food pantry in Naples and the Cancer Relay for Life in Oxford.

“He was just a remarkable person. He had a heart of gold,” Kathy Sweet said.

Another of Trott’s friends was Annette Metcalf of Harrison. Metcalf used to wait on Trott each morning for breakfast at Griff’s Country Store in downtown Naples. She said Trott had a terrific sense of humor and loved his older model pickup truck.

“You’d always see him driving around smiling in his old souped up Chevy truck. That was his toy. He totally loved that truck,” she said.

Metcalf said Trott would stop by Metcalf’s place of employment in Standish to say hello once in a while.

“I’m so bummed,” Metcalf said. “We were good friends.”

Metcalf said Trott was a romantic, and “it would have been just like him” to want to take his girlfriend out on the boat to watch the stars.