Article on Ben McDaniel - Vortex Springs Case

[mselenaous]

This has gone beyond ridiculous ... can we all just stop it already with the personal attacks?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

---

---

A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Discussion has been split into another thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/wh...article-ben-mcdaniel-vortex-springs-case.html
Any further posts not on topic will be moved.

---

 

[shelby mcdaniel]

What would you do? Are you saying you would just walk away if your son had been seen going into the cave and wasn't reported missing for two days and you would give up on him? We will never, i repeat, never give up on finding his body!!

i'm curious. On what do you base this statement?
It is a fascinating story. There are thousands of posts here on scubaboard and other forums about this incident.

 

[shelby mcdaniel]

I CAN PROMISE YOU THE STRORY WILL NOT EVER BE FORGOTTENAS LONG AS HIS BODY IS MISSING AND WE CANNOT FIND HIM TO BRING HOME TO BURY WITH HIS BROTHER PAUL,22, WHO DIED OF A SROKE THREE YEARS AGO, DONATED HIS ORGANS/TISUEAND GAVE THE GIFT OG LIFE TO FOUR PEOPLE AND HAS HELPED UP TO 120 PEOPLE LIVE A BETTER LIFE WITH HIS TISSUE, GO TO PAULANDREMCDANIELFOUNDATION.ORG.

 

[Crush]

Madam,

These Scubaboard forums are not for you - you should not be here. You live with the hope and desperation that a parent would feel - I can understand this somewhat since I am a parent, although I am fortunate in that I have not suffered your losses. However, you are not a scuba diver and I am, albeit a modest one. From what I know, and from what I have read, you son in not in those caves. As one parent to another, you are a fool if you cling to that notion. I don't know where Ben is, but you will have to look for him somewhere outside of Vortex. I know that to you Vortex will have become familiar, but he is elsewhere.

 

[57Writer]

Madam,

These Scubaboard forums are not for you - you should not be here.

Just a quick FYI: "Shelby" McDaniel is Ben's father. Ben's mom, Mrs. McDaniel is "Patty."

 

[Jim Lapenta]

In order to bring someone home they need to be where you are looking. Vortex is not it. But when you offer things that get other people to risk their lives needlessly that goes beyond love. That is selfish and obsessive. It is also ethically wrong to call or imply that someone is not brave or is a coward because they will not go into a no win no reward situation to locate an non existent objective. If I pulled a stunt like he supposedly did or fooled people into thinking he did I would not want anyone to look for me. If the best cave rescue teams in the world say he's not there, he's not there! Until you get that into your head and accept that your son is not there and for whatever reason wanted to disappear and make it look like he died a hero's death (which doing what he did only would signal recklessness and stupidity) you will not find that peace you are looking for. Take the money and hire a private detective to look for him. I'm guessing he will not need to be a diver.

Or if you want to look that bad in that cave get the proper training that Ben never got and do it yourself. Don't risk the lives of good people tilting at windmills with others lives.

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

Mr. Mcdaniel, I spoke with you on FB and I am one of the people that tried to help you and your family. I dove with Edd and then again on the camera dive. I shook your hand and saw your pain. All of us there would still be looking if there was a chance he was in there. There is no possible way he is. Edd explained the physics as to why he can't be in there. Nobody will blame you or expect you to quit looking. In this case you have to accept the fact that you need to look somewhere else. I wish I could tell you where that is but I can't. Good luck and I hope you get the answers you need.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

What would you do? Are you saying you would just walk away if your son had been seen going into the cave and wasn't reported missing for two days and you would give up on him? We will never, i repeat, never give up on finding his body!!

Mr. McDaniel ... I can empathize, I lost a friend on a dive whose body was not recovered for 10 months ... and know the pain his family felt at not even being able to say good-bye.

But how will you feel if another diver loses his life in a vain attempt to locate your son? Some of the best divers in the world have already tried and have already told you he's not in there.

Why can you not accept that? The evidence suggests that there is no body to recover.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[mike_s]

Why can you not accept that? The evidence suggests that there is no body to recover.

I think this is natural for anyone in this situation.

They were told "that was where he went" and can't find him elsewhere, so they will cling to the small thread of hope "that he's in there". Since that's all they have....

I can't blame them for that... It's got to be terrible for any parent to loose one child, much less two.





At the same time, a LOT of people worked hard searching for him. They did this on their "own dime", taking vacation from work, time away from their families, because "it was the right thing to do". Some of them were talked negatively by the McDaniel family afterwards. I saw this as a slap in their face for their efforts.

I shake my head at this, because none of that will bring their son back either....

 

[Mark Derail]

Probably a Google search brought him here. Perhaps he is now a scuba diver too, to better understand what happened / may have happened, what better way than to become a diver?

What should be separate is emotion and facts.

Why can't a tethered RV with lights & a camera be piloted from just before the point where it becomes dangerous?

Or did I miss a post in this story? A three-man team or even a single man with a rebreather could get close enough to deploy a tethered RV hundreds of feet closer inside, past where others have not yet gone.

Madam [EDIT: Sir],

These Scubaboard forums are not for you - you should not be here. You live with the hope and desperation that a parent would feel - I can understand this somewhat since I am a parent, although I am fortunate in that I have not suffered your losses. However, you are not a scuba diver and I am, albeit a modest one. From what I know, and from what I have read, you son in not in those caves. As one parent to another, you are a fool if you cling to that notion. I don't know where Ben is, but you will have to look for him somewhere outside of Vortex. I know that to you Vortex will have become familiar, but he is elsewhere.