Father indicted for daughter’s death after she was hit by propeller on family’s boat

BELL COUNTY, Texas (KWTX/Gray News) — A Texas man has been indicted for criminally negligent homicide in the 2023 boating death of his 11-year-old daughter.

On Wednesday, the Bell County Sheriff’s Office presented findings to a grand jury for the death of Zoey Rene Walls at Stillhouse Hollow Lake, according to authorities.

Based on the preliminary case findings, the Bell County grand jury returned an indictment against 44-year-old Joshua Glenn Walls, of Killeen, on a charge of criminally negligent homicide.

According to the Bell County Sheriff’s Office, investigators and of the Violent Crimes Apprehension Team located Walls and took him into custody on Thursday.

The boating incident happened shortly before 8 p.m. on July 2, 2023.

Emergency responders were called to Stillhouse Hollow Lake in Belton.

Once there, police and paramedics learned the victim was riding on a tube while being pulled by a family boat when she fell into the water.

Authorities identified the boat operator as the girl’s father.

As Joshua Walls returned to pick Zoey up in the water, the boat then struck the girl and caused fatal injuries.

Police did not provide specific information about why the father was charged.

Joshua Walls was booked at the Bell County Jail with a $50,000 bond.

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