Charles "Chip" Romer and Jennifer Luzzi, two well-known Lake Havasu City business owners, died Saturday night after their boat slammed into a peninsula at high speed, launched airborne, and crashed into a nearby campsite.
The Mohave County Sheriff's Office Division of Boating Safety responded to the Arizona side of Lake Havasu, just north of Cattail Cove State Park, at approximately 7:08 p.m. Saturday after reports of a boating collision. Deputies found a 2019 36-foot Douglas Marine vessel upside down on land in a boat-in campsite north of the point of impact. Romer, 65, and Luzzi, 59, both residents of Lake Havasu City, were found unresponsive inside the wreckage. Deputies performed life-saving measures, but both were pronounced dead at the scene.
San Bernardino County firefighters and Lake Havasu City firefighters also responded to the crash site. Authorities said the watercraft had been traveling at a high rate of speed when it struck a large peninsula, sending the vessel airborne. The boat continued through the air before landing in the campsite.
The sheriff's office has not released additional details about what caused the boat to hit the peninsula. Whether speed was the sole factor, or whether mechanical failure, operator error, or any other circumstances played a role, remains unanswered. No information has been released about whether anyone in the campsite was injured, or whether Romer and Luzzi were the only occupants aboard the vessel.
Romer was president of Romer Beverage Company, a family-owned Anheuser-Busch distributor headquartered in Kingman, Arizona. The company, founded in 1982, serves Mohave, La Paz, and Yuma counties and operates warehouses in both Kingman and Lake Havasu City.
But Romer's life extended well beyond the beverage business. He was a fixture in high-performance motorsports, on water and on land. He held the "King of the Desert" title at Desert Storm's Shugrue's Shootout, an offshore powerboat speed event on Lake Havasu. In 2010, Romer debuted "Dial 911," a Skater 388 built by Douglas Marine's Skater Powerboats. With throttleman John Tomlinson of TNT Custom Marine, Romer recorded a 157-mph pass at the Desert Storm shootout.
He competed on pavement, too. In 2022, Romer won the Prototype 1 class at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Virginia International Raceway. He also raced in the IMSA Prototype Challenge and Radical Cup North America.
Neville Agass, a friend who first knew Romer as a customer before the two grew close, paid tribute on Facebook.
"He was a very passionate person at whatever he took on and was a very accomplished and successful businessman, pilot, race car driver, off roader, boater and family man."
Agass said Romer had fitted more into his lifetime than Agass could imagine fitting into five.
Jennifer Luzzi moved to Lake Havasu City from Huntington Beach, California, in 1995 and spent roughly three decades establishing herself as one of the area's top real estate professionals. She ran The Jennifer Luzzi Group with Keller Williams Arizona Living Realty. RealTrends ranked her team sixth among small real estate teams in Arizona for units sold in 2026.
Chad Nelson, of The A Team Real Estate Professionals, posted a tribute on Facebook.
"Jennifer was truly a class act and a Havasu icon. Her energy, strength, kindness, and love for this community will not be forgotten. She was an incredible mother, a talented athlete, a dedicated professional, and, most importantly, a wonderful friend."
Phil Annett, president of the Lake Havasu Association of Realtors, mourned both victims in a Facebook post, describing the deaths as a loss that had left the community reeling.
"The passing of our dear friends Jennifer Luzzi and Chip Romer has suspended reality for all of us. It was way too soon, and completely unfair on all accounts."
Annett added that both had "made an unforgettable impact on their family, friends and the city of Lake Havasu."
Authorities have yet to say whether a formal investigation into the cause of the crash is underway, or whether toxicology results or other findings are pending. The relationship between Romer and Luzzi, personal, professional, or both, has not been disclosed.
Two people who spent decades building businesses, raising families, and pouring themselves into a small Arizona city are gone in an instant. Lake Havasu is a smaller place today.
