Boating Accident or HOMICIDE? The Curious Case of Graham McCormick

Rand Hooper and Graham McCormick are both from the Richmond area.

McCormick moved to Atlanta for a job but took time to return to Irvington to visit his friend, staying with him at his home. The next day, Sallie Graham gets a text from Hooper asking if she’s heard from her son, if not, then he is missing. Graham says her son was known for his responsibility, as signified by his fraternity nickname... Grahampa, a reference to maturity.

Graham asks about a search to find McCormick, searching the water, checking with neighbors in town, and more. The answer: He's not there.

McCormick’s mother, father and brother drive from their home as they learn McCormick was missing. Graham checks by the dock, where her son was last known to be, using an oar to poke and prod at the water. From there, Graham knocks on neighbors’ doors, then returns to the Hoopers. Soon, a neighbor tells Sallie Graham, a body had been found.

Graham McCormick’s body is found floating in Carter Creek off the Rappahannock River around 11:30 that morning, around two miles north of the Hooper’s home. The State Medical Examiner ruled that McCormick died from drowning, blunt-force trauma a contributing factor in the death.

Three days after the initial visit to the home, Lancaster sheriff’s detectives spot damage to the Hooper family boat. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries reconstructed a crash and determined the boat had been involved in an accident near where McCormick’s body was found. The investigation reveals that McCormick and Hooper spent the evening drinking, then took Hooper’s 1999 Boston Whaler boat out.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries concluded that the vessel struck a bulkhead jutting out of the water near where McCormick was found. Investigators believe McCormick was ejected from the boat. Police say it appeared that it had been slammed against the rocks, over and over again. McCormick had lacerations on the left side of his head and the back of his body, and blunt-force trauma.

The medical examiner concluded that the injuries alone would not have killed the 31-year-old McCormick. Those injuries should have been survivable, she said. However, McCormick’s blood alcohol level was 186.

It would be three years before Rand Hooper would face additional charges in Graham McCormick’s death. Initially, Hooper was charged with a misdemeanor count of failing to make a timely report of the boat accident.

Those charges were upgraded to involuntary manslaughter with a proposed deal of just one year in prison, but a special prosecutor determined that more charges were appropriate as Hooper was accused of operating his boat while intoxicated, leading to a crash that killed McCormick.

Hooper was arrested and charged with felony murder, involuntary manslaughter while under the influence operating a watercraft, and failure to stop and assist with serious injury or death.

Joining Nancy Grace Today:

• Burke McCormick- Graham’s Father, Attorney
• Gordon McCormick – Graham’s Brother; Twitter: @GhostofBPH
• Catherine McCormick- Graham’s Sister
• Dale Carson – High-profile Attorney (Jacksonville), Former FBI Agent & Former Police Officer (Miami-Dade County); Author: “Arrest-Proof Yourself”
• Dr. Jorey Krawczyn – Police Psychologist, Adjunct Faculty with Saint Leo University; Research Consultant with Blue Wall Institute, Author: Operation S.O.S. – Practical Recommendations to Help “Stop Officer Suicide”
• Capt. Tim Self- Lancaster Sheriff’s Office in Virginia
• Dr. Jan Gorniak – Medical Examiner, Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner (Las Vegas, NV), Board Certified Forensic Pathologist
• Melissa Hipolit- Investigative Reporter for WTVR CBS 6; Twitter: @MelissaCBS6

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