Search Continues One Year Later for Cave Diver

[Cave Diver]

Do we have a Dead Horse subforum, yet?

It, along with several others in a similar vein, was discussed about two years ago.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

It's probably correct. I heard from at least two different sources when the search initially started that the gate was either unlocked for him, or that he was given a key by the employee stated in the article. There was also some mention made of that in one of the threads, because it was mentioned that there was a problem finding the key when the alarm that he was missing was originally raised.

I was actually told a bit more about how this situation came about, but since it's hearsay and unconfirmed, I won't post that part.

I was told otherwise by the employee in question.

 

[Hetland]

When a diver goes missing, a deep cave is scene of a deeper mystery - St. Petersburg Times

What about the two divers who were in the cave after dark, Eduardo Taran and Chuck Cronin, the last two to see Ben?

Since Ben went missing, Cronin had returned to the cave again and again to look. The tall, thin man with a bushy black mustache knew the gin-clear water better than most; he'd been diving the spring since 1975. Cronin had made good friends with Taran. The two dove almost every Wednesday, like they were the night they saw Ben.

Cronin told investigators that Ben had been bugging him the day he went missing. Ben knew a lot about diving, and he had all the right gear, but he struck Cronin as a hot shot, full of himself.

He told the deputies that he and Taran also noticed that someone tampered with the gate, apparently to access the cave without a key. They suspected it was Ben, who didn't have the proper certification to pass through.

After they saw Ben that night, Cronin told the investigators, they went to Taran's for coffee. Then Cronin went home. He didn't hear anything else until Friday.

The investigators asked the men to take polygraph tests. They both passed.

Cronin had a theory that many divers shared: Ben could be sitting on a beach somewhere, sipping margaritas. Capt. Hamilton wondered himself. Could Ben have wanted to disappear?

There was the failed marriage and financial trouble that forced him out of his house. Ben also owed the IRS $48,861 and the state $1,177 in unpaid taxes. Quite a bit of baggage for a 30-year-old.

 

[Tom Smedley]

Sixteen ways to deal with a dead horse.......

1.Change riders.
2.Reclassify the dead horse as a paradigm shift and keepriding it.
3.Buy a stronger whip and flog the horse until it showssigns of life.
4.Do nothing: "This is the way we have always riddendead horses".
5.Develop a Strategic Plan for the management of deadhorses.
6.Arrange an international programme visit to see how theyride dead horses in other countries.
7.Perform a productivity study to see if lighter ridersimprove the dead horse's performance.
8.Hire outside consultants to ride the dead horse.
9.Harness several dead horses together in an attempt toincrease the speed.
10.Provide additional funding for external training thatwill increase the dead horse’s performance.
11.Appoint a committee to study the horse and assess howdead it actually is.
12.Rewrite the horse’s job description in line with the newCompetency Framework Guidelines for Deceased Equine Models.
13.Re-classify the dead horse as suffering from "VitalLife-Sign Indetectability Syndrome".
14.Promote the dead horse to a management position.
15.Declare that, as the dead horse does not have to be fed,it is less costly, carries lower overheads, and therefore contributessubstantially more to the bottom line than many other horses.
16.Contact IT to see if the whole stable is down, or justyour horse.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Cronin had a theory that many divers shared: Ben could be sitting on a beach somewhere, sipping margaritas. Capt. Hamilton wondered himself. Could Ben have wanted to disappear?

You will forgive my poor Spanish but this is a statement close to Ben's heart these days: Uno cervesa con limon por favor

 

[CaveMD]

The article also leaves out a bunch of facts.

1.) Ben was not certified to Cave Dive, nor had he even started taking classes.

4.) Ben's gear was a cluster-fluck. He had brass DIN/yoke converters on his regs and one of his deco bottles didn't have a valve knob on it and he had to open it with a pair of pliers he had bungee'd to the cylinder.


Moving this to the mexico forum is almost quite fitting...

It sure doesn't belong in Cave Diving forum as "he wasn't in there".

He actually tried to get cave training, his poor attitude and cluster **** gear was the reason why he was turned down by at least one instructor.

I 2nd the comment that this has no business in the cave forum. It was an open water diver that dove in a cave.

 

[DogHouseDiver]

said that a Vortex Spring employee unlocked the gate. .

This fact was in the police report originally, missed by the "journalist(s)" at the time, and re-presented as "new info" a year later when it beczme "new" info to thejournalist(s) looking to resurrect (pun intended) a story. Its not new info, but wasn't wideley known due to poor initial reporting. You think a reporter reporting on an alleged death would read the police report....? Not until a year later.

Also of note, this fact was not obscured in any way, it was told to the police investigators at the time.

 

[Hetland]

This fact was in the police report originally, missed by the "journalist(s)" at the time, and re-presented as "new info" a year later when it beczme "new" info to thejournalist(s) looking to resurrect (pun intended) a story. Its not new info, but wasn't wideley known due to poor initial reporting. You think a reporter reporting on an alleged death would read the police report....? Not until a year later.

Also of note, this fact was not obscured in any way, it was told to the police investigators at the time.

Police reports are not always available to the press. In most cases They only have access to the first page (or two) of the report, which is usually a generic Incident/Offense Report. Case notes on an open case would almost certainly be held back.

 

[CaveMD]

Why is this in the basic section?

And why not in the advanced / cave diver section?

He was not a cave diver, he was a basic open water diver and thats where it belongs.

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Moved to Cave Diving

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Please move this back to the basic forum where it belongs, this person was not a cave diver, and died in a cave. No cave diver benefits from this because they have had the training, some rec/openwater divers could potentially benefit seeing this as a warning...seeing as how the grim reaper sign isn't enough of one for this individual.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

He was not a cave diver, he was a basic open water diver and thats where it belongs.





Please move this back to the basic forum where it belongs, this person was not a cave diver, and died in a cave. No cave diver benefits from this because they have had the training, some rec/openwater divers could potentially benefit seeing this as a warning...seeing as how the grim reaper sign isn't enough of one for this individual.

Did he die in a cave?

There's no evidence of this.