Carl Yerger Murder: Two Americans Charged In Stabbing Death Of Pa. Man In Bahamas

Bahamas officials say two Americans have been charged with manslaughter for the stabbing death of a Pennsylvania businessman there.

WFMZ-TV in Allentown, Pa., reports that four American men were taken into custody and questioned about the death of 45-year-old Carl Yerger at a Bahamas resort last Friday. Yerger, from eastern Pennsylvania, owned Custom Milling and Consulting and was at the Big Game Club and Resort & Marina on Bimini island for a business trip.

According to Royal Bahamas Police Assistant Commissioner Emrick Seymour, two of the men who were interrogated have been charged. Tyler Michael Valles, 19, of Key Largo, Fla., and Robert Francis Schwarz, 62, of Gaylordsville, Conn., were arraigned on manslaughter charges in Nassau on Tuesday, reports WFMZ. ZNS-TV reporter Fern Carey, who witnessed Tuesday's court hearing, the Pennsylvania TV station that the defense attorney argued that Yerger's death was an accident.

"Their lawyer explained in court the victim was reportedly drunk at the time he came onto their boat," said Carey. Investigators say Valles and Schwarz were crew members on a boat docked at the resort where Yerger was staying. Yerger was found on the boat and asked to leave. He then returned to the boat later that night. Carey says that a "struggle" then occurred "between the victim and the two defendants."