"Stop! Prevent your death. Go no farther."

The recreational drownings of two experienced cave divers on October 16th demonstrate that accidents do happen sometimes, even to water specialists.

Unlike the victims in The Case of the Drowning Men, 53-year-old Patrick Peacock and his 38-year-old dive partner Chris Rittenmeyer met a watery end on purpose when the pair scoffed at the Grim Reaper's posted warning below to "Stop! Prevent your death. Go no farther," and dove into Florida's perilous cave system, Eagle's Nest.

Several hours later, lost in a mile-long labyrinth of underwater passageways which extend more than 300 feet in depth, they ran out of air together and drowned.

A third less-daring companion, whom Peacock and Rittenmeyer had stationed at the entrance of the cave to wait for them, reported the two men missing after they both failed to resurface as planned.

Would-be rescuers then arrived en masse at the infamous Weeki Wachee site where so many other adventurers have similarly perished and searched its deep-sea chasms and tunnels in vain until nightfall.

Another dive team finally located the lifeless bodies of Patrick Peacock and Chris Rittenmeyer on the following morning in a "very dangerous and complex area" of Eagle's Nest.

They had died "in close proximity to one another in about 260 feet of water," most likely after they each "whited out" from a pressure-induced condition known as Nitrogen Narcosis and their air tanks drained.

Eponymous Rox

Teen Goes Down the Drain in NH Flashflood

PHOTO: The hunt is on for a Nashua NH teen believed to have gone down the drain during a flashflood this weekend.

At one point during Friday's relentless downpours, rain was falling on drought stricken New Hampshire at the rate of three inches per hour, activating a succession of dangerous surges and emergency alerts.

That much fast-flowing water also caused some cities' storm-drainage systems to become so overwhelmed so quickly that metal sewer covers started "popping off."

Today, a missing storm cap is what Nashua police think led to the sudden disappearance of Jacob Goulet as he was walking home late Friday night from a friend's place.

Several agencies are now actively searching Nashua's waterways for the 16-year-old, who was officially listed as missing on Saturday morning when he didn't make it home as expected.

Goulet was already thought to have gone down the drain the night before when someone called 911 to report that possibility just before 10 p.m. -- the same hour the youth was seen passing through the neighborhood on foot.

Though the caller hadn't actually witnessed him being sucked into the drainage hole, a number of personal items later found near the drain's opening were identified as belonging to the still-missing teenager.

New Hampshire's Public Radio station is reporting at this hour that teams are probing both the Nashua River and the Merrimack River for Jacob Goulet's body, while officials continue to monitor the city's flooded storm system as well.

Goulet stands 5-foot-8-inches tall and weighs approximately 200 pounds. He has black hair shaven into a mohawk and was wearing a studded denim vest, gray shirt, dark shorts and black sneakers when he vanished.

Anyone who knows of his current whereabouts or who comes across his remains is asked to call the Nashua Police Department immediately at 603-594-3500.

Eponymous Rox

Warrants Issued for 'Missing' Boater Found Adrift After Fishy 'Mishap'

Warrants regarding formerly “missing” boater Nathan Carman have been issued, after he was found adrift last weekend in the Atlantic and the only other crew member -- his mom -- remains “lost at sea.”

It’s not the first time the young man has fallen under suspicion of the authorities. Carman, who lives in Vermont but was born in Connecticut, became “a suspect” in his wealthy grandfather’s shooting death three years ago.

No one has yet been charged for that murder, but, now that one of the dead man’s heirs has vanished and is presumed deceased too, police have renewed their interest in the unsolved homicide and in the one person who seems to link both cases: 22-year-old Nathan Carman.

The Hartford Courant examined all the related court documents this week and reported that young Carman had been suspected in the murder of 87-year-old widower John Chakalos on December 20, 2013. In part because he was the last person to see the victim alive.

Records show, in fact, that the then-teenaged and troubled youth was nearly taken into custody for his grandfather's brutal killing several months later, before a warrant for his arrest was vacated on unspecified grounds.

In a brief interview with the Associated Press this week, Nathan Carman denied responsibility for either his elderly relative’s slaying or his mother’s recent disappearance.

Linda Carman, 54, was one of four daughters to inherit the slain Chakalos’ vast estate, estimated at the time to have been worth in excess of $40-million.

The missing middle-aged heiress and her “autistic” grown son embarked together on one of their “routine” fishing trips from Rhode Island on September 17th. 

It’s unclear what happened to their boat, the Chicken Pox, or to Mrs. Carman, but sole survivor Nathan Carman was found “in a four-person life-raft” over the weekend and the Coast Guard questioned him in detail about the “accident” he claims sank the vessel.

The young man told CG investigators that, prior to the craft suddenly “falling out from under” him as it was rapidly taking on water, he’d heard the engine make “a funny sound.”

State and federal officials are indicating they think Carman’s story likewise sounds a bit “funny” and are continuing to probe the fishy incident.

Meanwhile, they'll continue to search for his missing mom as well; although, if Linda Carman wasn't murdered onboard, then, in all probability, she has drowned.

Eponymous Rox

Missing Adrian Lynch Found Drowned 9 Months Later

The body of long missing UK man Adrian Lynch has finally been found this month in a body of water previously scoured by divers using sonar.

The 20-year-old electrician disappeared from the island of Jersey in early December of 2015, after leaving a Christmas work party by taxi, shortly after midnight.

Lynch was later captured by surveillance cameras (and witnessed) heading on foot for his home located about a mile away from where the cab driver dropped him off.

An exhaustive months-long search for the missing youth officially ended in February 2016. It only produced his wallet and a coiled belt.

Then, this August, a passerby spotted semi-submerged human remains in a reservoir close to where Adrian Lynch was last seen alive and contacted authorities who retrieved the corpse.

Lynch's passport was reportedly found in a pocket of the victim's jacket.

The reservoir where he is thought to have drowned was well inside the "high priority" search area that police established during their multi-agency investigation of his missing-persons case.

His body wasn't there when those waters were searched last winter -- and, had it been, it would have surfaced by springtime when warming temperatures triggered decomposition and refloat.

A postmortem exam revealed that young Lynch suffered "no traumatic" injuries when he died such as might imply "third party" involvement or foul play.

Nevertheless, the coroner was unable to pinpoint his actual cause and manner of death.

The unexplained disappearance of Adrian Lynch is presented in the new and expanded edition of The Case of the Drowning Men, complete with photographs. Jersey officials have indicated their investigation into the matter is still active.

Eponymous Rox

Man found weighted, bound and drowned in Sheepshead Bay

NYC police are seeking help in solving the "obvious" murder of a man found weighted, bound and drowned in Sheepshead Bay.

The drown victim who washed ashore this week near Manhattan Beach was wearing "cement shoes" and had his "hands tied behind his back" before being dumped in the water "in a plastic bag."

A spokesman for the NYPD said a Kingsborough College student walking near Oriental Boulevard on Monday morning discovered the unidentified male's weighted and bound corpse on the shoreline.

He didn't say whether police already know the murdered man's identity, but did reveal he has a number of tattoos on his back, including one of a rose and another of the Virgin Mary.

It was "obviously a homicide," the detective emphasized, noting that the victim's feet had been "submerged in concrete" to guarantee he would suffer a gruesome death.

Anyone with information about this case is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.

EPONYMOUS ROX

Missing 21yo David Breunig Found Drowned in Maine River

PHOTO: The body of missing maritime student David Breunig was pulled from the Penobscot River in Orono Maine over the weekend and formally identified yesterday.

The tall and athletic 21-year-old vanished late in February 2016, reportedly after leaving a house party on foot and crossing elevated train tracks leading downtown.

While no one actually witnessed Breunig "fall" that evening, police immediately began searching the Stillwater, which the railroad trestel spans, as well as the Penobscot where the two rivers converge.

Nothing was found in any of those search efforts, except "objects of interest."

On Friday April 22nd, however, the body of a young Caucasian male closely matching the description of David Breunig was discovered in the waters near Sea Dog brewery and Interstate 395.

The Bangor Fire Department was called to that location to retrieve the victim, who evidently had a wallet and other personal items belonging to the missing Maine Maritime Academy junior.

Although official confirmation could not be made at the time, the family was given notice over the weekend that their young man had likely been found dead.

According to the obituary the Breunigs subsequently published this week, a coroner has told them Breunig  accidentally drowned on February 26th, after slipping from the railway and falling into the Stillwater River.

He “passed away after an accidental drowning” their statement partly read.

A public memorial mass for David Breunig will be held on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. at Saint Hyacinth Church in Westbrook Maine.

EPONYMOUS ROX

Body of Nathan Kermensky Found in MA Dam

The body of missing 26yo Nathan Kermensky (below) was found snagged in the gates of a Connecticut River dam on Thursday morning.

"This was at the Holyoke Gas and Electric Dam on Gatehouse Road," a spokesman for the Massachusetts police explained over the weekend.

He stated that one of the workers from "a Gas and Electric crew was flushing down by the fish lift and the body came through."

Kermensky's is the second corpse pulled from those waters in as many days -- missing teen Brianna Cuoco was also recovered from the Connecticut last week.

In another apparent coincidence, the 18-year-old woman had also disappeared in late January and, like Kermensky, lived in Hadley Mass.

A missing persons report for the 26-year-old college maths tutor was first filed by his family on January 29, 2016 after they lost contact with him earlier in the week.

His vehicle was later found parked at the Norwottuck Rail Trail near Northampton with the keys still in it and a multi-agency probe was launched, albeit "foul play wasn't suspected" at that time.

Today Massachusetts authorities continue to investigate the disappearance and drowning of Nathan Kermensky, whilst hinting he may have "committed suicide."

Anyone with information about this young man's death (and that of Brianna Cuoco) should call 911 or the Hadley Police Department at (413) 584-0883.

EPONYMOUS ROX

Can You ID Drowned John Doe By His Tattoo?

A John Doe victim was found drowned in the Kanawha River on April 19th with the below tattoo on his left arm.

West Virginia police have released the image, noting it's not the actual one but practically identical in hopes someone may recognize this and ID the dead man.

They say the large Virgin Mary tat is specifically 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' and done with black ink. It extends from John Doe's shoulder to his elbow.

A crucifix was also found in one of his pants pockets.

No other form of identification was found on the body of a "6-foot tall" unknown male of indeterminate age pulled from the water on Thursday.

His remains were retrieved in the vicinity of River Avenue and McDonald Street in South Charleston.

Anyone who thinks they can identify the John Doe found drowned this week by his distinctive tattoo is asked to call the South Charleston Police Department at (304) 744-5951.

Updates to this case will be posted in the comment section.

EPONYMOUS ROX

Missing 27yo Taylor Frazer Found Drowned in River Tay

Scotland police have confirmed that Taylor Frazer (below) was the young man found drowned in the River Tay this week.

Specialists had previously searched the water and banks where the 27-year-old's body evidently surfaced on Tuesday night.

Nothing was discovered during those operations.

Authorities were convinced throughout Taylor Frazer's brief missing persons investigation that he was in peril, expressing "significant concerns" in their appeal for the public's help in locating him.

Now that his corpse has been recovered from the River Tay, though, they've issued a statement to the contrary:

"There are no suspicious circumstances," a police spokesperson advised reporters for the Scottish Daily Record yesterday.

The Dundee man disappeared from a posh hotel on Whitehall Crescent the very morning he was due to check out.

He was allegedly last sighted alive "near Tesco in Riverside" around 5:00 a.m. on Sunday.

It's still not known what happened to Taylor Frazer after that, or if he did actually depart the Malmaison Hotel as planned.

A forensics team was called in to comb his suite for clues. Apparently they didn't find any.

EPONYMOUS ROX

22yo John Krause Found Drowned in Arizona Canal

The body of 22-year-old John Krause was retrieved from a Mesa Arizona canal on Friday night.

A police spokesperson indicated there were "no signs of foul play" in Krause's apparent drowning but they are still investigating the case.

It's not yet known how John Krause entered the water and died there or when, but his is the second body to be pulled from that waterway in recent days.

Last weekend a worker clearing one of Mesa's canal gates near Brown Road spotted a man's corpse trapped in the debris.

According to description, the unidentified victim's remains were in an advanced stage of decomposition, suggesting he had been submerged for quite some time.

That earlier death has been labeled suspicious however, though the status of the police inquiry is unknown at this time.

Neither man found drowned in mid April 2016 is the first to ever perish in Arizona's fresh waterways.

One of the most high profile disappearances and "accidental" deaths in that largely arid state occurred in downtown Tempe during November of 2012.

That year Arizona college student Jack Culolias vanished after being thrown out of a crowded college bar where he was celebrating "Hell Week" without about 200 of his classmates.

The missing young man's body was discovered about a month later in an area of the Salt River thoroughly searched before due to its close proximity to the Cadillac Ranch where Culolias was last seen alive.

His family, including an identical twin, have since sued the bar for a host of improprieties which they believe led up to and resulted in his wrongful death.

EPONYMOUS ROX

Body of missing 18yo Omair Abbas likely found in UK river

PHOTO: Omair Abbas, 18 of Cardiff UK, went missing while job hunting -- police say a body found in the River Ely this week is likely his.

Abbas hasn't been heard from since March 31, 2016, when he was last sighted in the Newport commercial district at approximately 5:00 p.m.

According to the South Wales Police missing persons report, the youth was hoping to find employment in one of the area's busy restaurants or pubs.

Officers searching for him there released surveillance footage of Abbas walking across the roundabout near Asda on Leckwith Road shortly before he disappeared.

The 18-year-old's relatives said his long absence this April was "uncharacteristic," and even officials had grown "concerned about the welfare of Omair Abbas" when two weeks passed without word from him.

A formal identification of the remains of a young male found drowned near Cardiff Bay on Wednesday is still pending. However, a law enforcement spokesman said the Abbas family "has been informed."

Abbas was an athletic-looking teen who stood over 6-feet tall and had short dark hair and a beard. When last seen alive he was wearing a black shirt, black pants, and a black coat.

Anyone with information about his disappearance and apparent drowning in the River Ely on March 31st is urged to call police at 101 and refer to case number 1600112778.

EPONYMOUS ROX

Missing NYC Librarian Javier Horta Found Drowned in Bronx River

Police say the body of missing NYC librarian Javier Horta (below) was pulled from the Bronx River yesterday near East 177th Street.

The 34-year-old single dad disappeared three weeks ago under questionable circumstances which are now being investigated.

After an all-out community search was launched for Horta, it was a passerby who spotted his corpse floating in the water around 1:00 in the afternoon on Wednesday -- less than half a mile from where he vanished.

Cops at the scene stated there was "no trauma" on the dead man and "no signs of foul play" either, indicating that NYC's latest cold-weather *drowning* will be ruled yet another "accident."

However, an autopsy will be conducted this week to determine Horta's actual cause and manner of death.

Javier Horta was last seen alive by two friends he had spent an evening with on March 25, 2016.

Allegedly around midnight he was preparing to take a taxi back to his own residence with one of those men.

Instead Horta told him to go on without him because he'd forgotten his "wallet and phone upstairs."

He then apparently “went back to get his things," confirmed the missing man's brother Hector. "That’s the last anyone saw him.”

Nobody knows what happened to Javier Horta after that, but the popular NYC librarian was never seen or heard from again. Until yesterday.

According to relatives, the NYPD demonstrated some reluctance in pursuing Horta's missing persons case, insisting they "really can't do much" since he had "no history of mental illness" and was "over twenty-one."

“A detective told me April 2nd the case is still open," Hector Horta told reporters earlier this month. "But he also said ‘I hope you find your brother.'"

EPONYMOUS ROX

Missing Ohio Man Joey Labute Found Drowned in Scioto River

A coroner has confirmed that Joey Labute (below) -- missing from Columbus Ohio since early March -- was the victim found drowned in the Scioto River on Tuesday.

Evidently, some degloving of the 26-year-old's hands and feet, and other stages of decomposition, hampered immediate attempts to identify LaBute's remains this week through fingerprinting.

Dental charts and a forensic dentist had to be consulted instead, although detectives previously indicated that, otherwise, the body they retrieved a few feet offshore this week was "in pretty good condition."

The circumstances of how Joseph 'Joey' Labute suddenly vanished from a downtown Columbus restaurant where he was socializing with family and friends on March 4th still remains a mystery, however.

Police have again said that foul play hasn't been ruled out, and, because of the nature of Labute's death and where his fully-clad corpse was discovered, his missing persons case and alleged drowning are both now being treated as "suspicious."

Joey LaBute worked for Morgan Stanley and was a 2011 graduate of Ohio State University. It's not clear yet if he actually died in the water or was placed there already dead.

EPONYMOUS ROX

Young Man Found Drowned in Ohio River Yesterday (ID Pending)

An autopsy is due today on the body of a young man found drowned in the Scioto River of Columbus Ohio on Tuesday.

The Columbus Division Police Dive Team extricated the corpse from floating debris yesterday afternoon in the vicinity of the Scioto Audubon Metro Park near Interstate-71 and Greenlawn Ave.

It was then delivered to the Franklin County Coroner's Office for medical examination.

At present the victim's identity is still unknown, but homicide detectives said they're poring over several outstanding missing persons reports for a possible connection.

A department spokesman said the unidentified young male was found fully-clothed and that his body was in "pretty good condition," suggesting that it hadn't been in the river for very long.

“We have a male in his twenties and we don’t know why he died,” he also stated. The death is therefore being treated as "suspicious" pending further investigation.

Joey LaBute mysteriously went missing from a downtown Columbus restaurant earlier this month.

The 26-year-old has not been seen or heard from ever since that night.

EPONYMOUS ROX

BREAKING - Body Found in UK Stream Sparks Murder Arrest and Probe

BREAKING NEWS: UK police have arrested a suspect after a  body was found in a woodland stream today, and a homicide investigation into the unnamed man's death was launched.

The Press Association reporting for the Guardian News said a 21-year-old male is currently in police custody on suspicion of murder, but neither his identity nor that of his alleged victim's has been released yet.

Early Monday, someone walking near the Goodwyns estate in Dorking Surrey spotted the apparent drowned corpse of an unknown male and contacted the police.

The dead man was retrieved from the water and is now awaiting autopsy and formal identification at the county Medical Examiner's Office.

In the meantime, his suspected killer is being questioned by detectives and additional charges may be pending, according to a spokesman for the Surrey UK police.

He told press gathered at the scene that “the team and I are focused on a number of inquiries to try and establish the circumstances surrounding this incident and will be carrying out various searches in the area as well as making house-to-house inquiries.”

Arrests and murder investigations are exceptionally uncommon in the Case of the Drowning Men, particularly in the U.S. where, regardless of the circumstances surrounding a missing young man's drowning, such cases are typically ruled "accidents."

This breaking news story is developing -- please check the comments section for any additional updates, and feel free to add your own there or any other observations.

EPONYMOUS  ROX

Body of Missing Man Matt Stoner Found on Riverbank

Matt Stoner below went missing from a Pennsylvania pub in early February -- his body was found this week on the banks of the Susquehanna River.

Stoner, 33, was celebrating Mardi Gras with his girlfriend and a few friends in downtown Williamsport PA when he went outside for some fresh air and bouncers refused to let him back in again.

He reportedly then decided to walk back to his home some ten minutes from the bar, but went missing instead ... until Thursday morning when a fisherman spotted the body of an adult male washed up on the riverbank.

The gruesome discovery doesn't come as a surprise to police though -- they had instantly theorized that  Matt Stoner vanished without a trace on February 7th because "grainy" surveillance video showed him "falling off" the Market Street Bridge that night.

Divers and cadaver dogs were employed to search beneath the overpass and at least one K9 indicated there might be human remains in the water, but none were found during any of those recovery operations.

An autopsy and investigation is currently underway to determine precisely how Stoner died. In the meantime, anyone with information about his disappearance and apparent drowning should contact the Williamsport Bureau of Police at (570) 433-3166.

EPONYMOUS ROX

Missing Airman Keifer Huhman Found Drowned

Police have confirmed that the body of missing airman Keifer Huhman has washed ashore in Delaware.

For weeks after the 21-year-old vanished and his abandoned truck impounded, loved ones and law enforcement have been searching area waterways for his remains.

On Thursday a fisherman discovered a young male's corpse cast onto a rocky bank of the Chesapeake and Delaware canal.

It was retrieved and later positively identified at the Delaware Division of Forensic Science as Keifer Huhman.

The Senior Airman was stationed at Dover Air Force Base and reported missing by his family in February when he failed to return there for duty and they learned authorities had towed his disabled vehicle from a bridge.

No one yet knows the circumstances of Huhman's apparent drowning in the C&D canal. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause and manner of his death.

Air Force officials had already declared their missing airman dead earlier in March 2016 -- Huhman is one of several young men to disappear and purportedly drown this winter.

EPONYMOUS ROX

Search for David Breunig Aided by Cadaver Dogs

Weeks after Maine maritime student David Breunig (shown in uniform below) disappeared, the hunt for him has narrowed, thanks to a cadaver dog named Quincy.

Yesterday's search for the missing 21-year-old saw body-recovery teams once more probing the Penobscot River, and by sunset they reported locating an "object of interest" in Devereaux Cove south of Sandy Point state park.

That area will be the main focus of today's efforts, a spokesman confirmed last night.

David Breunig vanished from Orono Maine late in February, after leaving a party on foot around midnight.

It is now rumored that he "fell into the river" from a train trestle and drowned, although no evidence has surfaced to support the contention.

The treacherous overpass is near where the Stillwater and Penobscot rivers meet and legally barred to pedestrian traffic.

However, local law enforcement agencies have already conceded it's an extremely uncommon occurrence for anyone to actually die crossing the elevated tracks.

Whether athletic David 'DJ' Breunig was one of the few victims who did plummet to his death from the structure remains under investigation.

Anyone with info about his yet-unsolved missing persons case should contact the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office at (207) 667-7575, or the Orono Police Department at (207) 945-4636.

EPONYMOUS ROX

Missing 22yo Zachary Marr Found Drowned in Charles River

Boston officials are confirming that 22yo Zach Marr -- missing since mid February -- has been found drowned tonight in the Charles River.

A BPD spokesman told reporters this evening that passersby spied a body in the water near where divers had repeatedly searched for Zachary Marr when he vanished from a popular tavern last month.

Investigators have been convinced throughout the ensuing weeks that Zach Marr "fell into the river" after bouncers denied him reentry to the bar where the out-of-towner had been celebrating his birthday with  cousins.

Following his missing persons report, both representatives for the Bell In Hand and Boston Police Department claimed to have viewed surveillance video showing Marr wandering away at "closing time," although he had no coat and just texted his relatives still inside the premises.

The waterfront location searchers focused on once video allegedly emerged last month showing the missing youth "falling into the water" is almost a mile from the Bell In Hand, and, coincidentally, exactly where his corpse was found today.

None of that footage was ever released to the public, but the circumstances of Boston's latest disappeared and drowned young man is not considered suspicious. Read Killing Killers' original alert for Zach Marr here.

EPONYMOUS ROX

Missing Man Matt Labounty Washes Ashore in Albany NY

The body of 21-year-old Matt Labounty, missing since Christmas, washed ashore in Albany New York this week.

Yesterday a coroner confirmed through autopsy that the remains of a Caucasian male found partially submerged in a marshy area of the Hudson River on Wednesday were those of the missing young man.

The victim's cause and manner of death hasn't been announced pending the results of a toxicology test, but police have already stated that they "don't suspect foul play."

Troy resident Matthew Labounty was last sighted alive in the predawn hours of December 25, 2015 walking toward the Menands Bridge. He was never seen or heard from again.

Divers began searching that part of the Hudson within days of Labounty's missing persons report, although Troy city police said at the time they had "no evidence he was in the water."

Two days ago, however, someone walking alongside the river in the Corning Nature Preserve spotted a fully clad corpse in the mud near a boat launch.

The site was cordoned off while a team of firefighters recovered the body.

Matt Labounty is one of many young men who vanished without a trace this winter and -- days or weeks later -- were found drowned.

EPONYMOUS ROX