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There were two tanks, one about half empty, one more than 2/3rds empty, chained down in OW, neither with regulators, one with a broken valve. One had 36% and the other was full of air.
There was a rigged stage in the cave, full enough to be negative and lay flat on the bottom.
If Ben were found to be alive, are there any possible criminal charges he could be facing for faking his death?
I'm not sure if he's done anything illegal in regards to him being missing with the "vortex search" as he hasn't filed any false reports with police, etc.
However, there is that outstanding issue with the IRS where he owed them $48,000 in back taxes, or something like that. If he's been "missing", then I doubt payments have been made on his back taxes owed. (plus state taxes owed also). So the IRS could file charges against him if he's ever found alive for failure to pay.
Remember, they never was able to make anything illegal stick to Al Capone for illegal acts related to him being a gangster...... They imprisoned him for Income Tax Evasion.
Hoping to add some semblance of clarity:
SaraRose is, indeed, a good friend of Ben's and a very intelligent and capable woman. She, like many of Ben's Memphis family and friends, is heart broken and emotionally invested in Ben's case. SaraRose appears in our film and shares some insight into Ben McDaniel's life.
The "tanks, cylinders, bottles": Jill had a chance to analyze them at the Holmes County sheriff's department and recorded her findings and analysis on camera. Mat and the others who commented are pretty much on target. I would not dive them the way they were set up!
The latest excerpt from "Ben's Vortex" with Jill Heinerth was excellent. She give credit to ALL involved in the case & does an excellent job of leaving any & all possibilities open. Her talk was very much heartfelt & sensitive to everyone who has been touched by this tragedy. It was very non- judgmental, & gently explained.
Mr McDaniel
I can understand your point,you and actually others on this forum would like closure too. I can empathize,although I haven't lost a son,but I have been in this sport over 16 years and have lost quite a few close friends. The pity is that I have been involved in my friend's accident analysis discussions,and even though they were very experienced divers,I have had to accept that they screwed up miserably,and their demise was surely preventable. I understand your need to find something that will close this case,but I plead with you to not tempt others into doing a search with money etc. This is an advanced level cave dive that is very unforgiving,and has seen the best in the sport make an attempt to locate Ben. One of our basic tenants in losing a buddy is search until the last possible moment,but don't cause a second victim-my concern is someone looking for money or glory will be a second victim,which at the end of the day will make you and the community feel worse. Good luck in your quest for closure.
I am hoping my greatest fears haven't been realized,but I have to wonder with the reward money being increased to $30,000,and we have a fatality at Vortex in the cave
I am hoping my greatest fears haven't been realized,but I have to wonder with the reward money being increased to $30,000,and we have a fatality at Vortex in the cave
I hope you're not right, I have been following these threads and every time i see new posts I say "I hope it someone hasn't killed themselves over that stupid reward". But I would also like to ask the parents now that we have an accident there, what are you going to do if another person has lost their live as a result of "Your" actions?
That is a good article. I saw the episode of Disappeared about Ben and I've read a couple of articles, as well as posts on this board. Neither article said anything about the woman from Australia finding a collapsible, military shovel, but that was included on the tv show. One of the articles I read made it sound like she decided not to dive the cave. Does anybody know if she in fact found the shovel? I'm pretty sure that cave diving is not in my future. Just watching the show freaked me out, but I'm a bit claustrophobic. I sure hope that his family finds answers. It seems the experts all agree that if he were in the cave, he would have been found.
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Originally Posted by SuPrBuGmAn
