The brother of an ER doctor and secure crypto wallet millionaire discovered dead in a lake has said that police are treating the death as a homicide, and that he had planned to visit one of his daughters just days after he disappeared.
Dr John Forsyth, 49, was reported missing on May 21 when he had failed to show up for his 7pm shift at the Mercy Hospital in Cassville, .
His body was found nine days later in a lake in , with police confirming he had been shot.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, his brother Richard said that they had dinner just days before he disappeared and said his behavior prior to his death were not ‘the actions of a person who kills himself.’
Forsyth is pictured here with his pregnant fiancé Laura Barnett who in a social media post said she was ‘heart broken’ over his disappearance
His brother Richard told DailyMail.com that his behavior prior to his death were not ‘the actions of a person who kills himself.’
His body was found near the bank across from the Lost Bridge South area of Beaver Lake, which is about 20 miles south of Cassville, police said
He said: ‘On May 17, which was four days before my brother went missing, he and I had a three hour dinner.We had, I suppose in retrospect, a very long goodbye.
‘It was at that dinner that he told me about [his fiancée] Laura, and that he was very happy to have found her and they were very much in love. And I congratulated him.
‘He seems to have really found something that made them happy.And I told him, I was just really glad about that. And he was very optimistic about the future
‘On the Monday after his disappearance, he had a plane ticket scheduled to fly out to see one of his daughters, he hasn’t seen in a while to reconnect with a friend.
‘They had definite plans, he and I had plans.I know what kind of a person he was, he was driven, passionate. These are not the actions of a person who kills himself. I do not believe this was a suicide.’
Richard also told DailyMail.com that homicide detectives have been brought in to investigate the case.
He continued: ‘The police are not sharing much, but the homicide detectives who are working on this case, are still working on this case, as a homicide.
‘And this is post autopsy.That’s not the police telling me something definitive, but you don’t need a lot to connect those dots.’
Forsyth was last seen on surveillance footage walking towards an RV he kept in the car park at the hospital at around 7am and had texted his fiancé to tell her he would see her later.
In an eerie new image his stethoscope can be seen dangling around the rear-view mirror of his Infiniti sedan
Shortly after he was reported missing, authorities located his black sedan abandoned at the Cassville Aquatic Park in the Ozarks
An expansive 90-acre search was carried out by the Cassville Police Department soon after, which failed to turn up any results until a kayaker found his body last month
Forsyth vanished on May 21 after leaving Mercy Hospital, Missouri, just ten days after he is said to have divorced his wife
Family members were immediately alarmed at his disappearance after it emerged he had left his wallet, passport, five cellphones, laptop and keys inside his unlocked RV and car.
At the time of his death many family members did not know Forsyth was engaged to Laura Barnett, 39.
Many were kept in the dark about his relationship with Barnett, who is eight months pregnant,
It is not known how the couple met but a LinkedIn profile belonging to Barnett shows she worked as an ER nurse practitioner at the same hospital.
She has not commented since he found dead, with family members telling DailyMail.com she is ‘devastated’ by his death.
Barnett had not publicly posted any images of the couple together until after he vanished,
Richard told Dailymail.com: ‘We’re letting her speak about that when she’s ready, I can say that she’s having a very hard time as anyone would surmise, which was very, very challenging for her.’
Forsyth is pictured here his pregnant fiancée Laura Barnett who he told his brother Richard was the ‘love of his life’
His brother Richard told DailyMail.com she was the ‘love of his life’, and other family members said he divorced his wife officially on May 11.
Authorities located his black Infiniti sedan abandoned at the Cassville Aquatic Park in the Ozarks.The car keys were inside, along with Forsyth’s wallet, passport and briefcase.
An expansive 90-acre search was carried out by the Cassville Police Department soon after, which failed to turn up any results until a kayaker found his body last month.
, which is about 20 miles south of Cassville.
New pictures show the search efforts of officers across the lake where his body was found, as a stethoscope hung eerily from the rear-view mirror of his car.
Sheriff’s Divers search Beaver Lake, Arkansas, for clues in the suspected murder of Forsyth
The body was found near the bank across from the Lost Bridge South area of Beaver Lake , which is about 20 miles south of Cassville
It has since been claimed that the doctor had as many as five cell phones in his black vehicle, with his family saying they knew of at least two – one each for his personal and work life.
In a bizarre revelation,
Richard, who founded the crypto firm OnFo with his brother, said that despite the terrifying ordeal, John never filed a police report.
He said he first learned about the kidnapping through a mutual friend, who only came forward to describe the incident to the family after John went missing in mysterious circumstances.
Pictured: Dr Forsyth’s family; second on the left Dixie Andelin Forsyth (mother) and beside her Robert Duane Forsyth (father), Richard Forsyth (brother) is center, surrounded by his sisters
The brother said he believed the kidnapping was ‘crypto related’ but that he did not know anything else about the perpetrators from the account of the mutual friend, who wished to remain anonymous due to ongoing safety concerns.
Richard cautioned that there was no evidence yet linking the 2022 incident with John’s death, but added: ‘It stands out very stark in the tableaux of facts that have emerged about the case.’
‘It was cold.He was zip-tied. He was made to feel very unsafe and taken on a car ride with some people to a bridge and was threatened.
‘He did not file a police report because he believed he was in continued danger.’
The family say that they would rather be ‘left in the dark’ during the police investigation if it means they will get ‘justice’ for the doctor.
