He had a new girlfriend in Florida and had been talking about starting his own business. Despite nearly nonstop dives by more than 16 recovery divers over a 36 day period, no traces of Ben were ever found.This video is the main reason why I started this channel. One of the divers is believed to have mentioned that he possibly had a leak in his tank.. Did you encounter any technical issues? The sheriffs office said the investigation into the deaths is ongoing. Trained cave divers who died in the most recent time period were older but little else differed. Introduction: Terrifyingly John then slid even further down into the passage and was trapped with his arms pinned under his chest. Jimlast-minute fill-in, Support Diver Number Six, mere mortal among godshas rescued the boys' coach, the monk who had done the impossible, too: kept 12 children alive in a flooded cave . As the sun faded on the 19th of August, 2010, Ben walked down the narrow dock and slipped in the clear, warm, water of Vortex Spring. In 2008, the McDaniel family suffered a tragedy when their youngest son, Paul, died from a stroke. 2 Coincidentally, Lowell died under suspicious circumstances two years after Ben disappeared. Perhaps his body had been secretly removed from the cave before searching began and disposed of on land or it had washed out through the spring's outlet. Several posters on scubaboard.com leaned towards this theory, adding that hes probably living it up in Mexico. [2], Ben was 6feet 1inch (185cm) tall and weighed 210 pounds (95kg), one inch (2.5cm) taller and 20 pounds (9.1kg) heavier than Sorenson. As the sun faded on the 19 th of August, 2010, Ben walked down the narrow dock and slipped in the clear, warm, water of Vortex Spring. Jill Heinerth says Dan's Cave on Abaco Island, Bahamas, is her "favorite cave on Earth." Diver and photographer Jill Heinerth has explored unmapped, underwater caves deep in the earth, as well as . . He called his mother on his cell phone, the last contact he had with his family. Ben Davison. [1], At the Santa Rosa Beach house officers found his dog, hungry from having been unfed for two days. [1], She and McClellan turned their private video short into a feature-length documentary, Ben's Vortex, released in 2012. On Valentine's Day of 2000, 9-year-old Asha Degree packed her bags in the middle of On December, 24, 1945, a fire destroyed the Sodder family's home in Fayetteville, West Virginia, Dorothy was harassed relentlessly by a terrifying stalker who ultimately abducted and killed her. I also break down the different theories that are circulating around Ben's disappearance.The top 4 theories are:1. Or, perhaps he had been found dead by the dive shop staff, who feared the consequences of that discovery. There were no marks on the limestone where a divers helmet or tank would have scraped the cave ceiling. Training status, safety rules violated, relevancy of the violations, and root causes leading to death were determined. Absolutely. RAID continues to explain that the most common . Unable to load your collection due to an error, Unable to load your delegates due to an error. BlueTrin; Jan 18, 2020; 2 3 4. If Edd Sorenson says Bens not in the cave, hes not there. Unanswered Questions", "Mississippi Man Killed in Cave Diving Accident", "Questions remain about Lowell Kelly's death", "Parents of lost diver pin hopes for closure on team of dogs", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Disappearance_of_Ben_McDaniel&oldid=1104006595, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 August 2022, at 01:54. Conclusion: [1], In 2011 Kelly ameliorated the charges against him by pleading no contest. [12] He spent much of the rest of the afternoon by himself alongside the spring, witnesses said, testing equipment and making notes in his dive log. The Holmes County sheriff's office, which had also been the lead agency investigating the McDaniel disappearance, implied that it had not gotten the full story of what had occurred the night of Kelly's injury and that it had some questions it wanted answered. He has never been seen again. [2], Cronin and fellow employee Eduardo Taran, on their way back from a dive themselves something they often did on Wednesdays after the shop closed saw Ben as he began descending, with his lights on and wearing a helmet, suggesting he was venturing into the cave. Experience is the primary key to staying alive while cave diving, with the death rate increasing to 1/1003 for inexperienced divers. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. The teens, who arrived at the park earlier that morning, had talked with the two divers before the men got into the water, authorities said. The body of a cave diver still remains trapped upside-down after his ghastly death. A segment of Investigation Discovery's Disappeared has been devoted to the case, as well as Ben's Vortex, a documentary co-directed by diver Jill Heinerth. My gut feeling tells me someone closely involved with the last sighting of Mr. McDaniel knows more about his disappearance than they are letting on. One of the employees, Chuck Cronin, believed that while McDaniel had the proper equipment and considerable diving knowledge, he was often overly confident in his abilities and not shy about saying so. and transmitted securely. News media in the Panhandle and Memphis followed the search closely. Methods: Ben decided to fake his own death, and is still alive somewhere.More than a decade later, the truth of what happened to Ben McDaniel still isn't known.Disclaimer: I had tested positive for covid this week and was in the middle of getting symptoms while recording the videoso it's a little rough, but there was no way I was going to wait to post this story. One of the experienced divers who searched for Ben, Kevin Carlisle, explained: We may never know the truth of where he is, but we do know where he isnt and that is because of a lot of talented and qualified divers. As they searched the tiny passages, there was no sign of human activity. Investigative documents detailing the events surrounding a diver's death at Roaring River State Park show that multiple factors likely contributed to the drowning deep inside a cave . His body was found the next day after he, too, had failed to return from a dive. The site is secure. For those who are willing to push boundaries to the absolute limits. Ben had recently moved into his parents Santa Rosa, Florida, beach condo to escape a failed business and a broken marriage. Police assigned divers searched for Ben for days. The epidemiology of injury in scuba diving. Today, we're covering the true scary story of deep cave diver Dave Shaw. That's practically a death sentence when you're scuba diving, so always be careful. The spring consists of a 200ft basin which leads to an underground cave system. Bethesda, MD 20894, Web Policies We were able to hold his hand at some point.". BBC World Service. Ben wasnt an experienced diver thus he had no key. Ben Haddon-Cave, 27, whose sister Jessie Cave played Ron Weasley's girlfriend Lavender Brown in the films, had been out drinking with 26-year-old Paddy Bolster who also died in the tragedy. The sheriff's office also refused to release the autopsy report to the Northwest Florida Daily News despite its status as a public record under the Florida Sunshine Law; it claimed that release of the report would compromise an ongoing investigation. Rescuers began a different approach, using air-powered tools to chip away at some of the rock surrounding John. And no traces of Ben were ever found inside of Vortex Spring.In this video I breakdown the story of what happened before Ben's journey into Vortex Spring. Two other tanks, lacking regulators, were attached to the "talk box" in the outer cavern area, (Piano Room) where the talk box was located at the time. [1], Upon arrival, the sheriff's deputies sealed off the spring with crime-scene tape. When authorities arrived, the diver was deceased, according to the sheriffs office. Emily was also expecting their second child at the time, a boy who was born the following year and named after his dad. On the weekend of August 1415, he returned to Florida, leaving behind a letter thanking his parents for the sabbatical and promising to look after them as they grew older. After determining that no one else had seen Ben, Taran called the Holmes County sheriff's office. A professional diver from Austin named Don Brod was brought out to see what he could do. GO NO FARTHER. Forums. In February 2014 two divers died at a depth of more than 100m in a huge cave system in Norway. [10] At some points, the passage narrows to 10 inches (25cm), requiring divers to remove their tanks, push them forward through the passage, and then twist their bodies to follow. Cadaver dogs alerted on the water surface, further supporting that theory. An inquest has heard how a cave-diver in Cumbria drowned close to the surface early last year, after a problem was thought to have occurred with his rebreather, a unit under development. They hoped to show it to the McDaniel family in the hopes of giving them a better understanding of the risks associated with cave diving, and "closure", as Heinerth put it. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. New posts Search forums. "It's a really tight spot, but we've been able to get around him. 1:10 AM EDT, Fri June 24, 2022. Other than the two tanks, there was no sign of Ben: no dive mask, no fins, no wet suit, no body. He was found unresponsive at his home after suffering blunt force trauma to the head. A private investigator they hired believes that his body may have been removed before any authorities were contacted, or that he may even have been murdered on land and the narrative of his disappearance fabricated as a cover story. HHS Vulnerability Disclosure, Help Ben's brother who supposedly died from a stroke, actually died from a drug overdose; according to one pathologist there wasn't the slightest sign of a stroke. When their football practice ended on Saturday 23 June, 2018, the 12 members of Wild Boars decided to go cave exploring with assistant coach Ekkaphon . [13] Experienced divers scoured the cave, investigating small crevices and fissures Ben might have entered in a panicked attempt to exit the cave, as his tanks ran low, a pattern found in other cave diving deaths. Something went wrong, please try again later. Some of the worst scuba accidents occur because of inexperienced divers making small mistakes. John decided to try and find the formation known as the Birth Canal, an incredibly narrow vertical passage. Move on to the next theory. He soon realized that very few divers "in the world" possessed the training and skill to attempt such a dangerous cave diving recovery. Members of a specialized cave diving rescue team responded to the scene and found the second diver, also deceased, more than 130 feet below the surface, authorities said. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. "Due to the circumstances with his body being held the way it was and being wedged, it was most likely difficult to get a full deep breath," Sgt Cannon said. Please enable it to take advantage of the complete set of features! Emergency medical services responded to a call and he was admitted to a hospital in Pensacola. Was it an accident? By Phil Helsel. "Once John had been declared dead, there were discussions about 'How do we get him out?' [1][2] The state of Florida issued his family a death certificate in 2013. Josh had no choice but to leave his brother and work his way out of the cave where he called for help. Witnesses came forward to say they had encountered Ben on the evening of the 18th of August. 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