For this reason, Vortex Spring has become a popular dive training facility, offering classes and unique opportunities to novices and professionals alike. They never saw him again. Menu & Reservations Make Reservations . Vortex Springs Jeep Trails is a 3.9 mile loop trail located near Westville, Florida that offers the chance to see wildlife and is rated as moderate. He had last been seen by two of those employees on the evening of August 18, on a dive entering a cave 58 feet (18 m) below the water's surface. [3][2] Starting from the gate, over 1,600 feet (490 m) through the area's limestone bedrock have been mapped, to a depth of 310 feet (94 m); the cave's full extent is not known. They have also criticized the local police investigation as inadequate, particularly a lie detector test passed by the employee who was the last person known to have seen Ben alive. "Ben was brave," his father later said. Assisted by helicopters, they searched the swamps along the spring's outflow into Blue Creek and Sandy Creek to the Choctawhatchee River. After resurfacing he filled his tanks at the dive shop, a transaction recorded on security cameras (it is not known what he filled those tanks with). this, of course, draws divers from all over the world, who come to spend a day exploring all of the hidden nooks and crannies in the depths of the caves. He called his mother on his cell phone, the last contact he has had with his family. [3], They did, however, find some of his equipment. Diving instruction is offered for all levels; experienced divers come for the underwater wildlife and the cavern, which begins at 58 feet (18 m) below the surface. [16], In 2011 Kelly disposed of the charges against him by pleading no contest. On August 20, 2010, employees in the dive shop at Vortex Spring, north of Ponce de Leon, Florida, United States, noticed that a pickup truck had remained in the shop's parking lot for the previous two days.It belonged to Ben McDaniel (born April 15, 1980), a Tennesseean who had been diving regularly at the spring while living in his parents' nearby beach house. The sheriff's office also refused to release the autopsy report to the Northwest Florida Daily News despite its status as a public record under Florida's sunshine laws; it claimed that release of the report would compromise an ongoing investigation. Other divers saw him looking closely at the area around the cave entrance, as if, it was later reported, he was planning something. Coordinates: 30°46′17″N 85°56′53″W / 30.77149°N 85.94812°W / 30.77149; -85.94812, On August 20, 2010, employees in the dive shop at Vortex Spring, north of Ponce de Leon, Florida, United States, noticed that a pickup truck had remained in the shop's parking lot for the previous two days. The family believes that the suspicious, supposedly accidental, death of Vortex Spring's owner Lowell Kelly late in 2011 is related to the case. [2], Upon arrival, the sheriff's deputies sealed off the spring with crime-scene tape. He had left his dog in Santa Rosa Beach and had not given Greer any indication of such plans. [3] They agreed to put up $54,000 to guarantee the cost of replacing a remotely operated underwater vehicle brought to the spring by the Fort Lauderdale police, in case it was lost in the cave. Other Names: Vortex Spring, Florida. Last Known Status: )[12] In total, 16 divers spent 36 straight days looking for Ben's body in the cave with no results. After seven dives, he apologized to the McDaniels for not finding any fresh sign of Ben. Water, Electric, Pool, Tents Pictures; Reviews. [15], There was no explicit evidence that Higginbotham was trying to find Ben and claim the reward. It is the largest diving facility in the state of Florida. Kelly said shortly afterwards that on that evening, a man he described as "wild-eyed" and apparently drunk showed up at the shop and asked if it was too late to dive; the possibility has been raised that this man, if he existed, may have been involved. [3] That opinion, the Memphis Commercial Appeal later reported, was shared by posters on a scuba diving website, scubaboard.com, who had also met Ben during trips to Vortex Spring. [2][3] The state of Florida issued his family a death certificate in 2013. On his nights out with Greer, he told her of plans to eventually start a diving-related business. [2], Some other events reported to have occurred on the day Ben disappeared supported that theory. [9] At the entrance is a sign depicting the Grim Reaper and warning divers that the consequences of continuing past that point could be fatal. "I simply see no reasonable evidence that he is NOT in the cave," the Commercial Appeal quoted her as writing in an email. Vortex Springs Jeep Trails is a 6.3 kilometer loop trail located near Westville, Florida that offers the chance to see wildlife and is rated as moderate. A segment of Investigation Discovery's Disappeared has been devoted to the case, as well as Ben's Vortex, a documentary co-directed by diver Jill Heinerth. [5] A reward they offered was rescinded in 2012 after the death of another diver who may have been trying to collect it, vindicating the criticism of the divers who had warned of that possibility and resented the McDaniels' insinuation that those who had searched for their son at great personal risk had not been "brave" enough.[6]. But this discovery struck some searchers as inconsistent with Ben's supposed intent to explore the cave he was technically not permitted to enter. He had allegedly taken a temporary employee who he said owed him thousands of dollars out into an isolated wooded area and attempted to beat him with a baseball bat to make him pay up. [3], Ben's dives at the site were regular enough that the dive shop employees and other frequent visitors came to know him. [2], Shelby does not believe Ben had any intention of abandoning his life. Unanswered Questions", "Mississippi Man Killed in Cave Diving Accident", "Questions remain about Lowell Kelly's death", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Disappearance_of_Ben_McDaniel&oldid=973083112, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 15 August 2020, at 07:59. For the college football player and coach, see, bacteria that would indicate the presence of a decomposing human body, "Theories about Collierville diver's disappearance swirl in vortex of unanswered questions", "When a diver goes missing, a deep cave is scene of a deeper mystery", "Collierville parents pull reward for missing diver", "Article on Ben McDaniel – Vortex Springs Case", "What Happened to Ben McDaniel? Lengthy searches have only located some anomalously placed and filled decompression tanks; many of the divers who took part in those searches believe that if McDaniel is indeed dead, his body is not in the cave as he was too large to enter its narrower passages. Vortex Spring is a cold, freshwater spring that produces approximately 28 million US gallons (110,000 m 3) of water daily.The spring consists of a 200 ft (61 m) basin with sloping sides and a cave which links the spring to the Floridan aquifer.Water temperature is steady at 68 °F (20 °C) with no thermocline, and is typically very clear. [3], As the word of a missing diver in the Vortex Spring cave got out, other cave divers came for what they assumed would be a recovery operation, taking advantage of the weekend. Two days before the Investigation Discovery cable channel series Disappeared aired a segment on Ben's case, a diver from Biloxi, Mississippi, Larry Higginbotham, died in the cavern at Vortex Spring. Sunday, December 08, 2019. "After what we went through with Paul, we know our son well enough to know he wouldn't put us through that again," his mother told the Commercial Appeal. Two tanks known to belong to McDaniel were found near the entrance to the cave. Cadaver dogs alerted on the water surface, further supporting that theory. It belonged to Ben McDaniel (born April 15, 1980),[1] a Tennesseean who had been diving regularly at the spring while living in his parents' nearby beach house. Help keep our trails and parks open during COVID-19 by committing to social distancing. Lowell Kelly, at the time the owner of Vortex Spring, was facing criminal charges. Turn off your ad blocker to see a map of this trail, Eastern Lake Trail: Yellow and Red Trails Loop, Eastern Lake Trail: Yellow, Red, and Orange Loops. By that time the McDaniels had also come to believe that, if he had not died in the cave, Ben had been murdered. [3], Ben's truck was still in the parking lot the next morning, but with many summer visitors coming to enjoy the site's many water-based recreational opportunities and picnic grounds in addition to diving, the employees were (or later claimed to have been) too busy to notice. [2][3], The cadaver dogs searched the woods around Vortex Spring without success. Emergency medical services responded to a call and took him to a hospital in Pensacola. Thirty separate tests of the water over the next several months showed no sign of an increase in the bacteria that would indicate the presence of a decomposing human body. Some trails or park services may be closed this weekend so check with local authorities before heading out. They hired a Florida private investigator, Lynn-Marie Carty, who found that other people associated with Vortex Spring besides Kelly had criminal records. In the late 2000s Ben McDaniel was going through a difficult period in his life. "There is just as much reason to look above the water for Ben's body as there was to look below it in the cave," she told the Commercial Appeal. Vortex Spring (Google Maps). [3], Sorenson, who has been described by the Tampa Bay Times as being able to go where other divers cannot,[3] persisted. 2.4 - 5 Reviews $$ 1517 Vortex Springs Lane Ponce de Leon, Florida Website Google Map Nav Claim this business Information. Ok. As others have stated diver originated and the facilities could use some major updating and TLC. [8], For the most experienced divers, some of whom come from around the world, the main attraction of Vortex Spring is the cave, which starts 300 feet (91 m) from the cavern, at a depth of 115 feet (35 m). A text message was sent to Edd Sorenson, a veteran cave diver and recovery specialist with hundreds of dives to his credit, on his yacht in the Bahamas, where he was leading an expedition. The McDaniels were called, and they drove down to Florida, along with Greer, to watch what they could from the shore. (According to a 2014 online comment by his father, he could not find anyone at Vortex Spring willing to be his diving partner, so he did his dives alone. News media in the Panhandle and Memphis followed the search closely. The Holmes County sheriff's office, which had also been the lead agency investigating the McDaniel disappearance, implied that it had not gotten the full story of what had occurred the night of Kelly's injury and that it had some questions it wanted answered. "The last place I searched was pristine, without a mark that a diver had been there. A private investigator they hired believes that his body may have been removed before any authorities were contacted, or that he may even have been murdered on land and the narrative of his disappearance fabricated as a cover story. "Ben was fearless. What really makes Vortex Springs unique is the 1,600 foot underwater cavern, which makes it one of the largest in the country. He came to Vortex Springs the next day. He's not in there. A person present took him to his home in Ponce de Leon, where he helped Kelly shower and, afterwards, put a blanket over him and left him to rest in the bathtub.

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