Ben McDaniel Case

Morbid Craft

Ben McDaniel was an avid open water scuba diver. In the months leading up to his disappearance he was trying to get cave diver certified. He had recently got divorced, his brother who he was very close to died, and his construction business failed which put him in massive debt.
He took some time to live at his parent's vacation home in Santa Rosa Beach, FL with his beloved dog. During this time he did many, many dives at Vortex Springs, a well known diving place with a dangerous cave you can only dive in if you have your cave diving certification.
On August 18, 2010 he went for two dives in Vortex Springs and was going down to do another one when he saw some employees of the dive shop. Although Ben did not have his cave diving certification one of the employees let him through the locked gate within the cave. Two days later this employee came back to work and found that Ben's car still hadn't moved and no one had seen him.
Police were called in and world famous divers came to help search for Ben's body but nothing was found, not even an indication someone had been in the cave recently. Subsequent tests showed no indication of decomposition chemicals in the water and to this day Ben has never been found.
Was he murdered? Was it a terrible accident and his body is still deep within the cave? Or did he voluntarily leave his life?
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