Negligent Homicide Charge in Fatal Candlewood Lake Crash

A local man is facing new charges in connection with the Candlewood Lake boating accident that ultimately left a woman dead last summer.

According to rep-am.com, 66-year-old Gary Morrone of Oakville has now been charged with criminally negligent homicide based off of the fact that there are reportedly "glaring inconsistencies" in how he explained the events that lead to the death of then-38-year-old Waterbury resident, Wanda Tirado.

As reported in June of 2018, Tirado, who worked as a school teacher at St. Mary School in Waterbury, died at Danbury Hospital on Wednesday, June 20, as a result of the injuries she sustained in the boating accident that happened near the Squantz Pond State Park boat launch in New Fairfield. According to police, she was struck by the propeller of Morrone’s pontoon boat, suffering severe injuries to her right arm and head.

At the time, a fellow boater who spotted Tirado face down in the water, pitched in by pulling the injured woman out of the lake. She was then rushed to Danbury Hospital , where she succumbed to her injuries by the next morning.

Police say that there was an unnamed third party who told them that Morrone initially left the scene in his boat, docked at a local marina and took off. Morrone reportedly showed up at the emergency room at Danbury Hospital a while later, and gave inconsistent stories as to what happened to Wanda Tirado. Police say at first, Morrone said both he and Tirado were in the water when the pontoon boat began to drift away. Then, there is reportedly a written statement, in which Morrone explained that he heard Tirado's cries for helped, so he jumped into the lake. Investigators have also said that at one point, the Oakville man said he watched as Tirado was removed from the water by an emergency boat.

When Wanda Tirado, who is survived by two daughters, passed away, Gary Morrone was arrested and charged with reckless operation of a vessel, failure to help a collision victim, and failure to immediately notify law enforcement of injuries. Now that the investigation of her death is wrapped up, prosecutors have added the charge of negligent homicide. Tirado's family have also filed a $1.5 million civil suit against Morrone.