SCUBA symbol on the bank of Vortex Spring
This is the second of a two-part series about the mysterious disappearance of Ben McDaniel, a certified open water SCUBA diver that has been missing since August 18, 2010. The missing persons case remains open.
On August 20, 2010, a call went out to cave divers in the region surrounding Vortex Spring, Florida that a diver was missing, and in all likelihood, a body needed to be recovered from the cave within the spring. Three teams of 16 divers accepted the call and searched for the body of Ben McDaniel for 36 consecutive days, finding not so much as one indication that he had indeed drowned in the cave or the surrounding spring. Every crevice and opening of the cave was fastidiously searched, with the exception of a constricted, dangerous area in the rear of the cave that even highly experienced expert divers had encountered difficulty entering. The owner of Cave Adventures, a dive shop located about an hour from Vortex Spring, made his way into the area in 3 attempts, and found no evidence that any divers had been in there. With the effort it took to gain entry, he speculated that a diver of McDaniel’s stature, over 6 feet tall and 210 pounds, would not have been able to secure access.
Although no evidence was found in the cave that would suggest what had happened to McDaniel, there were some odd clues. Full air tanks were discovered outside the entrance of the cave, which was perplexing to investigators for two reasons. The first was that the tanks were filled with regular air, which is inconsistent with what McDaniel would have presumably learned by reading up on cave diving, as his parents insisted he did, because cave diving often requires a special gas mix, depending on certain factors, such as depth. Secondly, cave divers place extra air tanks along their way inside the cave, so that it is within ready reach if the diver should need it in the cave. In addition to these strange discoveries, McDaniel’s truck went unnoticed by staff of the dive shop at Vortex Spring for two days, despite being parked well within their view. Inside the truck was McDaniel’s wallet with almost $700 in cash, a cell phone, and various other personal effects. The last call placed on the cell phone was to his mother the previous evening.
A stern warning to aspiring yet unqualified cave divers
Ben McDaniel’s parents, Shelby and Patty, attended the searches vigilantly, hoping against hope that one of the divers would surface with answers about their son. They offered a reward of $10,000 to any diver who would brave the incredibly dangerous passage where other experienced cave divers refused to search out of fear for their own lives. Because that area remains unturned, the frustrated and grief-stricken parents have become convinced that is where Ben’s body may be. Their unwillingness to accept that this theory may be incorrect was what led Jill Heinerth to produce a documentary about the mystery.
Heinerth and her husband, Robert McClellan, have produced four documentaries, one of which was “Water’s Journey,” aired on PBS. Heinerth’s initial motive for visiting Vortex Spring was to take footage of a cave dive to present to McDaniel’s parents in an effort to demonstrate the inherent dangers of cave diving and help them to get closure. But after reading McDaniel’s log books, Heinerth discovered that he was mapping the cave, and had made at least one dive to its furthest reaches. She then changed her mind about the approach, concluding that there wasn’t sufficient evidence that he wasn’t in that part of the cave, leading to her decision to make the documentary focused on his disappearance, and to call it “Ben’s Vortex.”
An example of the nooks and crannies within Vortex Spring's cave
Theories as to what really happened to Ben McDaniel abound. Some believe that perhaps McDaniel set the scene for his own disappearance in an attempt to start a new life with no one any the wiser. Others think he drowned at some point in the cave and was swept out to sea. Yet another theory suggests foul play may have been involved, with a former owner of Vortex as a suspect. At the time of Ben’s disappearance, the owner was awaiting trial for the alleged kidnapping and beating of a temporary employee, for which he pleaded no contest and received a fine and probation. The man is since deceased, with suspicious circumstances surrounding his death a month ago.
The McDaniels continue to hold onto hope that their questions will someday be answered. Until then, the missing persons case remains open. The couple has since increased the offered reward to $30,000 for the diver who is able to locate their son in the last reaches of the cave.
Photos via bnorwood, Thespis377
Has anyone thought to send an rov into the cave to help his parents at least move past the theory he is on the cave? It would cost a lot less than $30,000 to send one in there.
They did send in the ROV but it could not make the length of the caves. In the bio, it shows the ROV & it’s wires twisting and banging all around.
“cave diving requires a special gas mix.” So cave divers never use air? I don’t think that’s right.
They use nitrox to avoid getting decompression sickness which can be lethal. Air that we breathe while walking around is only about 20% oxygen to begin with and contains a multitude of other trace gases. In these nitrox containers, there is enriched Nitrogen with still about 20% oxygen, this way the divers can move seamlessly among depths in the water. To boil it all down, they do use air, if they did not use air, they would die, because, as living creatures, we need to breathe air to oxygenate our blood
I think he is still alive he just changed his appearance
I just saw this on Disappered perhaps he was murdered and the scene was staged?
bob broski, You have no clue what you’re talking about.
was just watching the disappeared. rov cant make it to the back so anyone ever think how can a 6’2″ 220 pound man do that? Ok so if that not where he went then why not explore the rest of the vortex to see if he turned around and went different direction, might have unknowingly ran out of air somewhere else down there.
Candy, this is Ben’s Dad. The ROV could have made it to the extreme end but the Ft. Lauderdale Sheriff’s Dept. said they had not ever dove in a cave with it. Therefore, some things were done without thinking through things, ie, flow of the ROV and that since it had a tether 2000 ft. cord most of the divers down/air time was used up manually transporting and pulling the cord at 130ft +-down and only about 700 ft. into the cave. Ben had actually been down there a month before at a depth of 142 ft. and 1450 ft. or so into the cave. If the divers and camera crew had coordinated to carry the tether cord fully in length at one efort the camera would have been able to film the entire full length to the end of the cave. As it were it was found there to be a hole about 1600 ft. and 160 down at the extreme end where no one would go through. The hole was about shoulder width. The diver shined his light into the hole but could not see anything. Since I had to guarantee the recovery of the camera and cord I would have given the ok for the camera to proceed into the very last hole/restriction—but none of the cave divers would take that chance to feed the tether cord until the camera had come to the very extreme starting point of the underwater flow of water. Used to when the cave was being mapped out in 2003 a diver could go thru this last restriction and turn around when he got to the last turn-around room. The divers said it looked like there had been some caving in of that last few feet. But, I would have taken the chance and allowed the camera to go thru the hole an it was self-powered with lighting and hand controls on top of land. I still would like to do that–to prove beyond a doubt that Ben was or was not in that last few feet. The cave is one way in and one way out! I have not given up on finding his body–The divers do not want to go past that last restriction, and I can understand that, but i am willling to try the camera again, this time with a more coordinated effort. I’m working on that scenero, plus others. Email me at: smcdan6@comcast.net ( shelby, Ben’s dad )
Hi all, there are very few things that I watch that impact me so greatly but after watching the episode of Ben going missing over a year ago, I have never quite been the same, googling at least once a month to check if any progress has been made.
I have watched many mystery and disappeared shows as a little girl till now and my gut feel, instinct, tells me he’s not in the cave. I feel perhaps someone has indeed hurt him and used his love for diving as a perfect means to throw attention from searching elsewhere.
Is it coincidence that at the time of disappearance his former employer kidnapped someone?
We can’t let someone else’s evil plot get the better of us. This has wounded so many of us who don’t even know him, who live across the world… We need to know what happend…