Speedboat captain who killed CEO, 45, while drunk and high on cocaine off coast of Italy is jailed
A SPEEDBOAT captain that crashed and killed a mother while she was on holiday with her husband and two children has been found guilty of manslaughter.
Elio Persico, 32, was sentenced to four years and nine months in jail after requesting a plea bargain on Friday.
Adrienne Vaughan, a 45-year-old publishing executive, died after being flung into the water while on holiday in 2023.
The speedboat they were travelling on collided with a larger sailboat carrying 80 wedding-reception guests.
Upon impact, she was thrown overboard and struck by the propellers.
Her daughter was also tossed into the water but escaped uninjured.
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The boat’s driver, Persico, later tested positive for alcohol and cocaine.
Witness Pietro Luzzolino said Persico was “vomiting” and “gave the impression he was drunk,”
He added that both vessels had been travelling straight before the motorboat suddenly veered 180 degrees.
“There was a collision and I heard a very loud bang,” Luzzolino said.
He recalled seeing “the woman in the water being held up by her children and her husband.
“It was terrible.”
The New Yorker had been “dreaming” of this long-awaited family trip to Italy.
Just a day before the crash, her husband, Mike, shared a Facebook photo of the family smiling together at the Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum.
They were heading toward Positano when their boat struck the Tortuga in Fiordo di Furore.
Two doctors on the sailboat immediately jumped into the sea to help, and a nearby vessel brought her to shore.
However, prosecutors later confirmed she died before she could reach the hospital.
Vaughan had earned an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business and built a distinguished publishing career, working at Oxford University Press and Disney Publishing.
She joined Bloomsbury in 2020 as executive director and COO.
Vaughan became the company’s US president the following year.
A former colleague described her as a “charismatic true leader”.
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They added: “She was my coach and my mentor. I loved working with her every day.”
Her husband remembered her as a “beloved mother, wife, daughter, sister, niece and dear friend and colleague to many.”