THE THIRD BOTTLE WASN’T THE END: A 0.16% BAC PUT STEPHEN SCHNEIDER’S ENTIRE TIMELINE UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Stephen Schneider said he had consumed only three beers during roughly two hours at MJ’s Restaurant before leaving for the boat.

Then came the blood test.

After investigators obtained an emergency warrant for a blood sample, Schneider’s BAC was recorded at approximately 0.16% — a figure that immediately raised questions about how much he had consumed, when he had consumed it, and what happened during the final minutes before he left the restaurant.

Suddenly, the timeline mattered.

Investigators could examine the evening piece by piece, from the time Schneider arrived at MJ’s Restaurant to the moment he finished his drinks, left the table and headed toward the boat.

Restaurant records, witness accounts, service times and the number of empty bottles could all become important pieces of the investigation.

Schneider had maintained that his drinking was limited to three beers.

But investigators were looking at a much bigger question:

Did the evidence from that night match the story he had given them?

The empty bottles on the table became one more detail investigators could examine as they reconstructed the evening.

For prosecutors, the significance of the case was not simply the number written on a blood-test report.

It was the timeline behind that number.

When were the drinks consumed?

How quickly?

When was the last drink finished?

And how much time passed between Schneider’s final drink and his departure for the boat?

Those questions became increasingly important as investigators attempted to reconstruct what happened that night.

A single BAC result could provide a snapshot.

But the restaurant timeline could potentially tell the story leading up to it.

And as every minute of the evening was re-examined, the three-beer account faced a much closer look.

The third bottle may have been the last one Schneider remembered — but investigators wanted to know whether it was really the end of the story.