CHELMSFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - A judge sentenced a Lowell man to 6 years behind bars after he pled guilty Monday to charges in connection to a fatal jet ski crash that took the life of a 16-year-old girl in 2017.

Douglas Dematos, 34, pleaded guilty to operating a jet ski while under the influence of alcohol on Aug. 13, 2017, causing the death of Isabelle DaSilva, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan.

Officers arriving to the scene on the Merrimack River in Chelmsford around 10:30 p.m. learned that Dematos struck another jet ski from behind.

The impact from the collision threw DaSilva from her watercraft and she was missing for several hours.

Shortly after 10 a.m. the following day, her body was recovered.

An investigation later determined that Dematos’ blood-alcohol level was well above the legal limit.

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