Boater sentenced to 12+ years for Harris Lake fatality

Quinten Kight convicted of second-degree murder

For the death of 10-year-old Brooklyn Carroll and injuries sustained by Jenifer Stehle in the 2025 Harris Lake boating case, Quinten Kight was sentenced to 144 to 185 months for second-degree murder, along with another 19 to 35 months for felony boating while impaired involving serious injury.

Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour sentenced Kight, who pled guilty to numerous charges, including the second-degree murder and felony boating charges.

On Aug. 2, 2025, Kight was driving his girlfriend’s boat on Harris Lake when he plowed into a group of swimmers, killing Carroll and seriously injuring Stehle, who had one of her legs amputated due to injuries sustained in the crash.

Once he has completed his sentence, Kight will serve another 24 months on supervised probation. During that time, he will not be allowed to operate a boat, other type of watercraft or a motor vehicle.

Up until 2015, boating while impaired was merely a misdemeanor in North Carolina, but a boating incident on Lake Norman that year led to the enactment of Sheyenne’s Law, named for 17-year-old Sheyenne Marshall, who was killed by an impaired boater while knee-boarding. That boater received 30 months probation and no jail time, prompting Marshall’s parents to lobby for stricter sentencing and charges for such crimes.

Read more about Kight’s case at NCWildlife.gov. ■