Tyler Doyle: Family of missing boater still hopes to find out the truth a year after his disappearance

LITTLE RIVER, SOUTH CAROLINA: The family of a missing boater is refusing to give up hope and is trying to find out what happened to the hunter a year following his disappearance. Sha Doyle Boyd broke into tears as she remembered her nephew, Tyler Doyle, 22, who went missing on January 26, 2023, while duck hunting with a friend at Little River, South Carolina, about 24 miles north of Myrtle Beach.

On Friday, January 26, Boyd spoke to The Sun about how she and her family have dealt with Doyle's disappearance a year later.

What did Sha Doyle Boyd say about her nephew Tyler Doyle?

"It's been very difficult. I don’t even know another person that has gone to go through something like this," Boyd exclusively told the outlet, adding "Never in a million years thought this would happen to our family, neither to Tyler. And then to go through it all and have to fight for answers from law enforcement just made it 10 times worse on our family. It’s truly been the hardest thing we’ve been through in our life." 

She continued, "My brother, Tyler’s father, he’s suffering tremendously because Tyler was his best friend, and our mom and dad helped raise Tyler, so it’s been just a nightmare for our family.”

What happened on the day Tyler Doyle went missing?

On the afternoon of January 26, 2023, Doyle and a friend, Christian Holden, 21, ventured out to the waters of Little River, in search for ducks while being on a 16-foot Jon boat. According to records released by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), Doyle dropped off Holden on the north jetty, and he went to put out duck decoys.

Tragedy struck when Doyle contacted Holden on the phone, saying his boat was having mechanical problems, taking on water fast, and sinking, the SCDNR said. Holden was heard telling the police operator in a harrowing 911 call that he was stuck in the ocean and his friend's boat was sinking.

"The motor cut off on the boat, and it's drifting out in the ocean, and he's in it, and it's sinking," Holden said, adding "I don't even see him no more. He's drifted out past the jetties in the ocean."

The authorities called off the search for Tyler Doyle

In early March last year, the SCDNR and the city's Civil Air Patrol scouted the choppy waters for over a month before eventually calling off the search for Doyle. The SCDNR's official report ruled out foul play in the disappearance and said Doyle likely drowned after he went overboard.

Boyd said she's had a hard time believing her nephew drowned that winter afternoon. “To me, knowing Tyler, knowing how strong, how smart he was, how he grew up in the water, he knew what rip currents were, he knew what to do if he was caught in a rip current, I just have a hard time believing that he drowned," she told the outlet, adding "The kid in the 911 call even said how he saw Tyler, and he had his life jacket on.”

Doyle's wanders and wallet were eventually found off the North Carolina coast on January 31, 2023, but no traces of him have ever been found.