Chilling moment Florida man kills drinking buddy before casually dumping his body off a pier and kicking victim's shoes in behind him

By WILL POTTER, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Published: 21:45, 25 July 2026 | Updated: 21:47, 25 July 2026 Chilling footage captured the moment a Florida boater killed his drinking buddy and casually dumped his body in a marina before strolling away as he left the body to sink to the depths.  Kamal Padlowski, 52, was found guilty this week of murdering Melvin Jimenez, 47, in May 2024 after the pair spent Memorial Day drinking together on his boat in Ruskin, Florida.  In footage released following Padlowski's conviction, the two men were seen in a drunken brawl on a wooden pier after getting into an altercation on Padlowski's vessel.  Padlowski shoved Jimenez backwards during the fight, sending him sprawling to the floor and knocking him unconscious after he slammed his head on the dock.  The footage showed Padlowski then grab Jimenez by the legs and throw his body into the water without checking to see if he would re-emerge from the marina.  Padlowski then grabbed the victim's shoes and threw them in after him, before calmly walking away.  During his murder trial, Padlowski claimed that he was afraid for his own life during the struggle and dumped Jimenez in the water without knowing that he was unconscious.  'I didn’t know that he had even fallen,' he claimed. 'I knew he was still a threat to me, and I just wanted to get distance between us.'  But a jury was not convinced by his pleas of innocence as he was found guilty on first-degree murder charges after less than three hours' deliberation. Padlowski faces life in prison and will be sentenced on August 17.  Chilling footage captured the moment Florida boater Kamal Padlowski, 52, killed his drinking buddy Melvin Jimenez, 47 The footage showed Jimenez fall violently backwards during a fight with Padlowski before the killer callously dumped his victim in the water The altercation unfolded on a marina in Rustin, Florida in May 2024, after Padlowski (above) met Jimenez in a bar and invited him back onto his boat to continue drinking Prosecutors said Padlowski only met Jimenez hours before killing him when they began chatting in a Tiki bar, and Padlowski invited him to keep drinking on his yacht in the marina.  Both men were celebrating, as Jimenez had just won a contract at work to install security cameras at a Walmart, and Padlowski had proposed to his fiancée the previous day, per the Tampa Bay Times.  The two men drank together for some time before walking 10 minutes to Padlowski's boat, where they continued downing drinks with Padlowski's fiancée for around 40 minutes.  Padlowski testified that he had two hard ice teas and several shots, and claimed that Jimenez had even more to drink and became heavily intoxicated.  He said they eventually began arguing when Jimenez became aggressive, and said it was 'almost like it was his boat and we were guests on it.' Padlowski claimed that Jimenez refused to leave when asked, and alleged that Jimenez then shoved his fiancée and lunged at him. Padlowski's fiancée did not testify at the trial.  Prosecutors said video footage did not capture the early stages of the altercation, but did show Padlowski punching Jimenez and grabbing him by the throat.  Melvin Jimenez (pictured with his wife) was knocked unconscious during a fight with Padlowski, and he died by drowning when he was thrown into the marina  Padlowski testified in his own defense, and claimed that he feared for his life during the fight with Jimenez and did not mean to kill him  A jury was not convinced by Padlowski's pleas of innocence as he was found guilty on first-degree murder charges after less than three hours' deliberation. Padlowski faces life in prison, and will be sentenced on August 17 In the footage from the wooden pier moments later, Jimenez tried to put a pair of flip-flops on, and Padlowski claimed that Jimenez then turned around and threatened to kill him and rape his fiancée. The footage did not have audio.  The two men were seen in the video then wrestling with each other, before Jimenez fell back abruptly and smacked his head on the wooden pier.  In the trial, Padlowski's defense attorney Alex Stavrou alleged that Jimenez was dead when he hit the ground.  He brought up physician and pathologist Edward Willey to testify, who told the jury that the fall caused vertebral fractures and severed both vertebral arteries in Jimenez's neck.  Willey claimed that even if Jimenez had not been thrown in the water, he would have died anyway.  However, prosecutors noted that Willey did not perform the autopsy on Jimenez, and argued that the physician's testimony was incorrect.  They said a medical examiner found that Jimenez had been knocked unconscious by the fall, but he was still alive when he was dumped in the water.  Jimenez's official cause of death was listed as drowning, the state attorney’s office ruled.  Padlowski testified that he did not intend to kill Jimenez, and said he walked away from him in the water because he 'thought he was still alive and swimming somewhere, either to get out or to come back and reengage.'  He waited by his boat with two kitchen knives, where police then found him.  Padlowski alleged that his victim threatened to kill him and rape his fiancée, but Jimenez's loved ones said they believe the killer lied about the circumstances of the fight  Jimenez's wife Angela Sprenger told the court that she has been left devastated by her husband's murder, accusing Padlowski of lying about the circumstances leading up to the fight, branding him 'a narcissist and a murderer'  Jimenez's wife Angela Sprenger told the court that she has been left devastated by her husband's murder, accusing Padlowski of lying about the circumstances leading up to the fight. 'Just unbelievable because I don’t believe a word he says. I think he is a narcissist and a murderer,' she told the court.  'All the things he was saying was just total lies. And to try to go after my husband’s character that way is just so awful.'  Jimenez's daughter Kimberly also told the court: 'At least he’ll get to spend the rest of his day thinking about my dad and how maybe if he was a better man and had a better character like my dad, he wouldn't have made the decisions that he did to lead to this.'