Article on Ben McDaniel - Vortex Springs Case

[ScubaSteve]

........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.........

SIDETRACK

Should another diver perish in the ridiculous quest to find Ben in the back of the cave, and that new diver only died because they were paid (contracted/employed....whatever) to go into the cave and go farther than anybody else safely could, is it possible that the paying party could be found at least partly responsible? I know it is a stretch but I would rather see the family deterred from killing more divers than they keep trying to send people to their deaths. Just a simple mind seeking a solution to stop the nonsense.

 

[Tortuga68]

 

[ScubaSteve]

Poor horsie

 

[Tortuga68]

He's the lucky one in this thread

 

[mike_s]

What a great point Jim!

"they died and oh my what a tragedy, so unexpected as they were so experienced. They got what they asked for. But if he were he should have died doing what he did. He would have asked for the outcome. And maybe seeing his body pulled out would have discouraged others from being that stupid"

Ok, so Ben was not an "experienced" diver- I am glad that you feel so inclined to focus and belabor the same brilliant, insightful point- he deserved to die for the mistakes he made. I know that you feel superior to Ben and feel entitled to pass judgement. Congratulations on assuming the thrown, I can only hope that your maker will judge you just as harshly.

Seems to me that it's time to move this thread out of the public forums and into a closed area of the board, so it keeps out of the Google search engine hits and reduces the number of outside quacks posting.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Seems to me that it's time to move this thread out of the public forums and into a closed area of the board, so it keeps out of the Google search engine hits and reduces the number of outside quacks posting.

I don't think sararose is a quack ... more likely someone who knew Ben and is looking for answers. Sadly, the only person who can provide those answers is Ben ... who, according to the evidence, most likely did not perish in that cave.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[diverdoug1]

If Ben were found to be alive, are there any possible criminal charges he could be facing for faking his death?

 

[tadawson]

Is vanishing really faking death? Not to defend the guy, but what evidence did he leave behind to mislead anyone?

If I go somewhere, and joe public doesn't see me leave, and I decide to leave the country for some reason without telling anyone, is that really faking death?

Hard to say - I don't know much more about this than what is in this thread.

Some folks obviously *thought* he died in the cave, but whether that was his intent or not I don't think we can tell . . . but it sure will be an interesting story if he ever shows up again!

- Tim

 

[Tortuga68]

Not to defend the guy, but what evidence did he leave behind to mislead anyone?

His truck. His wallet with $1100 in it. His deco tanks... in the cave

There's also the missing evidence - all the rest of his dive gear is gone

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

There were NO deco tanks in the cave.