Authorities say the vessel that struck Davide Veglia and his 14-year-old son fled north as witnesses called 911 from shore.
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Davide Veglia, the founder and CEO of ABTS Convention Services, was killed and his 14-year-old son was injured after a larger boat struck their 7-foot inflatable dinghy in Biscayne Bay on Wednesday night and fled, authorities said.
The case quickly grew beyond a routine marine crash investigation because the victim was a well-known South Florida business founder, the surviving passenger was a child, and wildlife officers spent the next two days releasing photos and video of a boat they said may have been involved. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is leading the inquiry. As of Saturday, no arrest had been announced, no operator had been publicly identified, and Veglia’s son was still being described in local reports as hospitalized with a broken arm.
Investigators said the crash happened March 25 in the Meloy Channel near Indian Creek and Biscayne Pointe, a narrow stretch of water off Miami Beach lined with homes and docks. The Miami Beach Fire Department responded to a water rescue call at about 8:11 p.m. near Biscayne Point Circle after the dinghy carrying Veglia and his son was struck and both were thrown into the water. First responders brought the two ashore at a nearby residence before taking them to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. Veglia, 55, of North Miami, later died from his injuries. His son survived. Samuel Londoño, one of two teenagers working nearby, said he heard a child yelling, “Help, help, help,” and then the sound faded as the emergency unfolded in the dark.
Officials said the boat that hit the dinghy did not stop. Early public descriptions from investigators described a dark blue vessel with black bottom paint measuring about 20 to 30 feet long, possibly with multiple outboard motors, last seen heading north from the Meloy Channel between about 7:45 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. By Thursday, the commission had released photos of the boat, and by Friday it had released brief surveillance video showing what it called a vessel of interest. In local coverage, investigators’ public descriptions appeared to sharpen as the review continued, with some reports initially citing two outboard motors and later reports pointing to four. Authorities have not publicly said whether the boat has been located, whether its owner has been identified, or whether any physical damage recovered from it has been matched to the dinghy.
The son’s survival gave investigators and the public a human point of focus in a story otherwise built from shoreline witnesses, emergency dispatches and still images. Enzo Avelino, another teenager who called 911, told local television crews that rescuers arrived within minutes. He said the boy was curled into a stretcher and clutching his injured wrist while Veglia was brought in unconscious and in critical condition. Witnesses near the bay said the hardest fact to absorb was not only the violence of the collision but that the larger boat kept going. One nearby resident, Pascale Padiou, called that detail “horrible” in local interviews. Another resident said he had noticed a small dinghy on the water that night without lights, but investigators have not publicly confirmed that account or said whether lighting, speed, wake, visibility or right-of-way will play a central role in determining fault.
Veglia’s death also resonated because of the life he had built away from the water. ABTS said in a memorial statement that he founded the company in 1995 as a 25-year-old international travel and tourism student in South Florida after seeing a gap in services for physicians traveling to medical meetings in the United States. Over three decades, the company said, it grew into a global partner for medical associations, expanded into five divisions and operated offices in Miami and Belgrade while supporting hundreds of thousands of international attendees. The company described Veglia as deeply involved in client relationships and committed to the idea that international attendance strengthened medical education. In that sense, the crash did not just take a father from his family. It removed a founder whose name was closely tied to the business itself.
Friends and community members added a second portrait, one that placed Veglia in family, business and sports circles rather than in corporate language. Joao Moraes, a friend interviewed by local television, said he had spoken with Veglia on Wednesday morning and expected to see him for lunch two days later. “I lost my best friend,” Moraes said, describing the death as a shock. WSVN also reported that Cesena FC, an Italian soccer club with which Veglia had ties as honorary president, mourned him as a friend and a person of unusual kindness. Those tributes widened the story’s reach beyond the immediate crash site. What had begun as a late-night water rescue in Biscayne Bay became, by Friday, a public grieving story stretching from Miami business circles to an overseas soccer community, even as the basic question of who was operating the other boat remained unanswered.
The investigation now sits in a procedural stage that is both public and incomplete. The wildlife commission has asked for witness statements, private surveillance footage and any video that might place the fleeing vessel in or near the channel before or after impact. Miami Beach police and other agencies assisted in the early response, while marine investigators worked the area as a potential crime scene. Local outlets reported that tip lines and Crime Stoppers notices were being circulated as authorities tried to turn a blurry description into an identifiable hull and operator. Still, by Saturday, investigators had not announced a seizure, a warrant, an arrest or any criminal charge. They also had not said whether the case would be presented first as a boating homicide inquiry, a leaving-the-scene case, or both. For now, the clearest next step is simple: match the boat in the released images and video to a real vessel and the person who was at the controls.
The setting has remained part of the story because the crash happened in a place that can look calm from shore even while traffic moves quickly through the channel after dark. Waterfront homes, private docks and landscaping crews formed the backdrop to the rescue. Avelino recalled seeing only a shadow in the water before he understood someone was calling for help. Londoño said officers arrived fast enough that the response felt immediate, but not fast enough to keep the other boat from disappearing into the bay. That gap between rescue and escape has defined the public anger around the case. Veglia is dead, his son survived injured, and investigators have shown the public what they believe is the boat. The remaining piece is the name of the person who did not stop.
By Saturday evening, the hit-and-run investigation remained open, the suspected operator had not been publicly identified, and the next visible milestone was whether state investigators could tie the released images and video to a specific boat owner or announce charges.
Author note: Last updated March 28, 2026.