The body of Kelsey Starling was found Saturday, three months and one day after she vanished during a horrific Fourth of July boat crash on Smith Lake.

"They are diving now to recover Kelsey,'' her father, Alton Starling, told AL.com in an exclusive interview Saturday evening. “There is a high probability it is Kelsey based on the location. These divers never gave up.”

A couple of hours later, he said his daughter’s body had been recovered by divers and identified through a close and future family member on the scene. The Houston County Rescue Unit divers, on its fourth search mission to Smith Lake in this effort, began the recovery process at 7:11 p.m. Alton Starling said it is tough, but the family has long sought closure. A close and future family member is on the scene to identify the body. The ROV - remotely operated vehicle - that was purchased through GoFundMe donations and named Kelsey Blue found the body. "We ask for privacy in the recovery matter,'' he said.

Shortly before midnight, ALEA Marine Patrol Sgt. Chad Pate confirmed the identity of the body as Kelsey Starling. He said she was recovered in 140 feet of water at the approximate location that the accident occurred in Rock Creek.

Houston County Rescue Squad, Crane Hill Fire Department, Logan Fire Department, Trimble Fire Dept., Smith Lake Task Force, Winston County Sheriff’s Office, Winston County Coroner’s Office, Winston County EMA, Cullman County Coroner’s Office and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s Marine Patrol Division were involved in recovery efforts, Pate said.

Kelsey Starling’s 17-year-old sister, Megan, posted this on Facebook:

"The search for my sister, Kelsey, has weighed on our hearts every moment since July 4th, 2019. We all needed closure. Thanks to God’s good and perfect timing, we received that peace tonight.

The selfless, humble group of volunteer divers from Houston County Rescue Unit arrived back on the scene Thursday night and immediately began working. This was their 4th trip to Smith Lake, and they were determined to complete the task they did today.

Kelsey Blue, the ROV that many of you helped to purchase, located Kelsey.

My father and I cannot express how grateful we are to every member of that dive team, every family that housed and fed them, the countless number of volunteers who gave freely of their time, the medics, and Nell Parks Haley, who has kept so many people updated on this horrible tragedy.

Thank you to the countless number of you that have prayed with us. We ask that you respect our privacy as we deal with this new aspect of our loss. Keep praying. But this time, let it be prayers of celebration. Kelsey is home."

The crash happened about 10 p.m. July 4. Starling, a Troy native and speech language pathologist at Tuggle Elementary School, was a passenger in a 2012 Mastercraft wakeboard boat driven by 23-year-old William Jackson Fite of Decatur. Fite was booked into the Winston County Jail early July 5 on a charge of boating under the influence and has since been released on $2,000 bond. He has not been implicated in Starling’s death.

Four other passengers on the Mastercraft were transported for medical attention by emergency responders.

One person was injured on the second vessel, a 2011 Harris Flotebote pontoon boat reportedly operated by 50-year-old Jodi Wallace Suggs of Decatur. She and her husband, Nick Suggs, also 50, were indicted by a Winston County grand jury. They are charged with criminally negligent homicide and have pleaded not guilty.

Authorities have not detailed what led to the charges against them. The indictments state that both Suggs “did with criminal negligence” cause Starling’s death by “striking the vessel she was aboard causing her to be thrown there from.”

Alabama Code Section 13A-6-4 states: (a) A person commits the crime of criminally negligent homicide if he causes the death of another person by criminal negligence. Under state law, criminally negligent homicide is a Class A misdemeanor, except in cases in which the criminally negligent homicide is caused by the driver or operator of a vehicle or vessel who is driving or operating the vehicle or vessel in violation of Section 32-5A-191, or 32-5A-191.3 - both of which deal with driving under the influence. In those cases, criminally negligent homicide is a Class C felony.

Search and rescue teams from across the state and beyond spent 15 days looking for the University of Alabama graduate. The exhaustive search has included 360-degree imaging sonar which is placed on the bottom of the lake and gives a 360-degree image of the area. Teams have also utilized cadaver dogs and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency has conducted aerial searches. The multiple agency search has included the Smith Lake Task Force, Winston County EMA and ALEA’s Marine Patrol Division.

Searchers said an underwater forest with trees as tall as 60 feet had hampered the efforts.

In additional to law enforcement efforts, divers from across the U.S. as well as Alabama authorities have searched off and on for Starling’s body since the crash. The official search was suspended July 19, though volunteers carried out of few missions since then. A GoFundMe launched by one of Starling’s friends to help purchase special equipment needed for an extended search raised nearly $70,000.

After graduating from the University of Alabama, Starling got her master’s degree in speech language pathology at the University of Montevallo. She later moved to the Homewood area and has been working at Tuggle. Her close-knit group of friends described Starling as “a light in our life.”

A memorial service for Starling was held Aug. 10 in Troy. “With the strong love and passion, she displayed to those around her, Kelsey will never be forgotten by her friends and family,’’ according to her obituary. “Forever she will live on in their hearts.”