Missing Missouri Doctor Found Shot to Death in Lake, Police Say
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The Missouri emergency room doctor who suddenly vanished a week ago was found fatally shot Tuesday in a lake in Arkansas, police told The Daily Beast.
The Benton County Sheriff’s Department said that around 4:43 p.m. on May 30, deputies received a call from a kayaker about “a body in the water near the bank across from Lost Bridge South area.”
“Dr. [John] Forsyth was found deceased, in the water, with what appears to be a gunshot wound,” a spokesperson for the sheriff’s department added. “Benton County Detectives are working this death investigation alongside Barry County Sheriff’s Office, Cassville Police Department, and Missouri State Police. This is an active investigation and no further information will be released at this time.”
It was not immediately clear if the gunshot wound was self-inflicted. A Cassville Police Department spokesperson told The Daily Beast that it is “too early in the investigation to determine or speculate whether foul play was involved” and that an “autopsy will reveal more information.”
The grim news comes more than a week after the 48-year-old ER doctor was reported missing after he failed to show up for his evening shift at Mercy Hospital in Cassville, Missouri, on May 21. His car was found unlocked at a park minutes away from the hospital.
“My brother is dead. He’s been found,” Richard Forsyth told The Daily Beast on Tuesday evening.
On Wednesday, he said he was still waiting for authorities to provide more detail about his older brother’s death. He added that Forsyth did not own a gun.
“We're having a tough time,” he said.
The doctor’s son, 23-year-old JR Forsyth, told The Daily Beast that while he is still awaiting answers about what happened to his father, it is “somewhat comforting to have some closure at the very least.”
Forsyth’s body was discovered in Benton County, Arkansas, according to Captain James Smith of the Cassville Police Department, and will be officially identified following an autopsy.
The missing physician—who also moonlighted as a cryptocurrency creator—was last heard from at 7 a.m. that morning when he was texting with his fiancée as he left the hospital.
“He was texting her things like ‘Hey, my shift’s over’ and ‘I’ll see you a little bit later,’” Richard Forsyth told The Daily Beast last week. “And then minutes later, he stops responding to text messages and is seen walking toward his RV.”
Security footage shows Forsyth’s car pulling into a parking lot at an aquatic park in Cassville a short time later—and a white SUV pulling up near him a few minutes after that, Richard said.
“It leaves a few minutes later and [John] is seen walking around maybe 10 to 15 minutes after that,” Richard said police told him. “And then he walks away from his car.”
When the doctor did not show up for his next shift later in the day, alarm bells went off.
“He wouldn’t miss a shift even if his eyeballs were hanging out of their sockets,” his brother said. “It was an immediate red flag.”
Forsyth’s 23-year-old son, J.R., told The Daily Beast last week that there was no sign of trouble in his dad’s life. “And I can’t think of any logical conclusion as to why he would just vanish like this,” he said.
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