Bayville Man Enters Not Guilty Plea In Fatal Canoe Accident

An 18-year-old Bayville man entered a plea of not guilty in his first court appearance Wednesday on charges relating to the June drowning death of his friend in Barnegat Bay.

Dressed in a white dress shirt and black trousers, Trevor Murphy entered a plea of not guilty to charges of reckless operation of a vessel and failure to report a fatal boat accident in his arraignment before Judge John J. Sheehy in Berkeley Township Municipal Court.

Murphy appeared without a lawyer but informed Sheehy that he is seeking private representation and was given until Friday, Oct. 7 to do so.

Murphy and Ryan Worrall, 18, took a canoe onto Barnegat Bay in the early hours of June 10 after a post-graduation party. The pair -- who graduated from Central Regional High School just two days before -- had been dropped off near Worrall's Balsam Drive home in Bayville.

At some point, the canoe overturned in the darkness and both men went into the water. Murphy was able to swim back to shore. Worrall drowned.

The first notification the State Police Marine Services Division received came late in the afternoon of June 10, when an off-duty State Police officer discovered Worrall's body floating in the bay off , more than 12 hours after the accident. There was no record of Murphy calling police to notify them of the accident, authorities have said.

Worrall's parents, Lynn MacIntosh of Bayville and Patrick Worrall of Beachwood, were in the courtroom but did not speak. Patrick Worrall arrived well before the hearing began and sat in the front row, waiting for Murphy's turn before Sheehy.

, who grew up along the tidal marshes of Bayville, died of accidental drowning, according to an autopsy performed by the Ocean County Medical Examiner's Office the day after the June 10 accident.

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office reviewed the June 10 accident and remanded the matter to Berkelely Township Municipal Court, Deputy Chief of Detectives Michael Mohel has said.