WHOA! second raft discovered

http://mn.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19930813_0005.MN.htm/qx

Additionally, this article states that the prosecution accused Race of attempting to drown his wife. However, we know that did not actually occur. Debbie's death was given as hypothermia, not drowning. So the prosecution was wrong there.

here's another short article that mentions Race was a model prisoner, and mentions that Race shot off distress flares

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=97580

Interesting articles

I would think if indeed it was Race's alleged second raft, that would certainly swing the case back in his favor. But there's still no way of knowing whether or not it was his raft, and if the woman actually ever had it in her possession at all. "The trial court specifically found that the evidence of Shattuck and Tinsley [the women who claimed to have discovered the second raft] was not credible." Also from the article:

"Shattuck and Tinsley also testified that they now were sure they had found the raft in Duluth because they had stopped at an information center outside of Duluth and specifically remembered seeing a "Do Not Feed the Birds" sign there. At the hearing, however, the state presented the testimony of John Cavanaugh, a Minnesota Department of Transportation employee, and former supervisor of the Thompson Hill Travel Information Center during the relevant time period. He testified that the "Do Not Feed the Birds" sign did not exist during his tenure as supervisor of the Information Center. Laura Shaw from the Minnesota Office of Tourism also testified on behalf of the state. Her office is located in the Thompson Hill Travel Information Center. She testified that the "Do Not Feed the Birds" sign was not placed at the Travel Information Center until July of 1991."

Sounds to me like these women found a raft similar to Race's (most likely shortly before the UM segment aired) and called the UM hotline while watching the Race case to report what they had found. It's fairly obvious that they did not find this alleged second raft until after during or after July of 1991. That's almost ten years after Debbie Race's death.

Larry claimed that the raft found on board the Jenny Lee, the one with all the holes, had never been in the water but it had several gallons of water in it when it was discovered. All the holes in it were on the bottom and looked like they were deliberately made with a knife.

Larry said he kept trying to inflate the raft, but it would not hold air so he threw it aside and inflated the second raft for his wife to use.

But both air valves were found in the closed position. If Larry was attempting to inflate it, and it wouldn't hold air, why did he take the time to close the air valves before tossing it aside and inflating the second one?

IMO, any one in those circumstances would not stop the attempt to inflate the raft then take the time to close the air valve. Once you realize it's not inflating, you just disconnect it and grab another raft, leaving the valve open.

Testing showed that the Jenny Lee was never in danger of sinking. It was taking on up to 48 gallons of water an hour, with the faulty engine running and bringing the water in through a defect. The bilge pump was in full working order and had the capacity to remove 300 gallons of water per hour.

It was removing more than 6 times more water than it was taking on. For every gallon of water that came into the boat, the bilge was removing 6.25 gallons.

The boat was found to have 40 to 50 gallons of water in the hull. That sounds terrifying, but on a boat the size of the Jenny Lee, that's really not a lot. According to the California Energy Commission, it's about the same amount as what people use in a bath. Tubs hold between 75 and 150 gallons when filled so the Jenny Lee had about half a tub full of water in it and a working bilge that was capable of removing 300 gallons an hour.

That makes me wonder if Larry allowed the 50 gallons of water to accumulate in the boat. Enough to scare his wife, but not enough to be a problem, and then told her the bilge wasn't working. Seeing what must have looked like a flood of nearly 50 gallons an hour pouring into the boat, and believing that the bilge wasn't working was probably convincing enough to make Debbie want to leave the boat and get into the raft.

Also worth noting, all Larry's diving equipment was kept on the boat, but his two dive knives were never found.

A deputy sheriff testified that a man who looked like Larry Race stopped him and asked him to do a safety inspection on a boat. The deputy declined. The man specifically stated that he had two life rafts on board. The deputy didn't verify that but did "list the man for the safety equipment required by state law". I don't know why it says the the guy didn't inspect the boat for safety features but did go ahead and list the safety equipment. This event happened between May 8th and May 11th. Again, the document isn't clear.

So... the boat had sunk once already. Larry had the engine rebuilt by a mechanic. It was installed May 7th, 1982 and tested on land where they found a slow drip leak that wasn't dangerous. They put the boat in the water to test it and the drip did not worsen. The next day, Larry and friends went out on the boat and had no problems. Three days later, Larry took Debbie out on the boat at night. The rebuilt engine had only been installed for 4 days at the time of the major malfunction that led to Debbie's death.

Got the info here. The link was posted in another thread:

http://mn.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19860321_0003.MN.htm/qx

That makes me wonder if Larry allowed the 50 gallons of water to accumulate in the boat. Enough to scare his wife, but not enough to be a problem, and then told her the bilge wasn't working. Seeing what must have looked like a flood of nearly 50 gallons an hour pouring into the boat, and believing that the bilge wasn't working was probably convincing enough to make Debbie want to leave the boat and get into the raft.

This is exactly what I think happened. He scared his wife into believing there was a major problem, which is why she had no problem getting into the life raft.

i agree, i think he did it.
also not to mention the life insurance he took out on her 7 months earlier....conveniant. also werent they just trying again when they went out on the boat to save their marriage? why take out the life insurance when they were having problems...i dunno something just doesnt seem right about the whole thing. he comes across very convincingly as innocent, but i just cant shake the feeling he is guilty based on some of the things that happened that night

not to mention the life insurance he took out on her 7 months earlier....

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about there being a new life insurance policy involved. $108,000 that was to pay off the mortgage and some other loans with plenty of cash leftover.

Then there's his story about using a scuba tank to inflate the holey raft while still on board the boat, but then no scuba tank was ever located.

And the timelines he's given for napping and searching are confusing and conflicting.

And the raft being full of sliced holes and the pockets filled gallons of water, when Larry said it had never been in the water. Of course, once the large amount of water was discovered, he had to change his story from setting that raft aside, to throwing it overboard when it wouldn't inflate.

This guy had to keep coming up with new lies to cover and explain the old lies.

being that the 2 ladies watched the program almost a full decade after the incident, I can see why they would have trouble remembering what time they discovered the raft, being it was so long ago. I'm sure if they knew its significance, they would have retained it/paid more attention to it. Not sure what they would have to gain by lying in court.

being that the 2 ladies watched the program almost a full decade after the incident, I can see why they would have trouble remembering what time they discovered the raft, being it was so long ago. I'm sure if they knew its significance, they would have retained it/paid more attention to it. Not sure what they would have to gain by lying in court.

I don't think they were lying, but I think they got their dates wrong. I believe they went to the lake sometime in 1991 (when the "Do Not Feed The Birds" sign was there) and found a raft, and then sometime later saw the UM broadcast with the picture of Race's raft and figured since they were at the same lake and the raft looked similar they may have held some important information to the case which is why they contaced the telecenter.