The family of a doctor found dead in the Ozarks last month has revealed he died of a gunshot wound to the head — a wound they say was not self-inflicted.
New details provided Tuesday by the late doctor’s brother related to the mysterious death of Dr. John Forsyth — and come three weeks after the father-of-eight’s body was found floating in an Arkansas lake.
A wealthy man who made his fortune as an early investor in bitcoin, Forsyth, 49, was reported missing nine days ago – sparking a massive search after he failed to report to his hospital shift 25 miles away.
Police have since confirmed that Forsyth was shot, but have not said anything publicly or to Forsyth’s family as they continue to investigate his death. Three days before he disappeared, he proposed to his pregnant fiancée. Days before that, he finalized his divorce from his wife – the mother of seven of his eight children.
Forsyth’s brother Richard previously told Newstimesuk.com that he had seen Forsyth in the days before his disappearance and that his behavior did not constitute ‘the actions of a suicidal person’.
Richard also claimed his brother was kidnapped and threatened by several assailants last year, in an incident he said was ‘crypto-related’.
Dr. Forsyth’s family was not aware of how the couple met, but a LinkedIn profile of Barnett showed she worked as an ER nurse practitioner at the same hospital.
New details of the mysterious case were provided by the late doctor’s brother Richard on Monday – three weeks after the eight-year-old father’s body was found floating in a lake.
Police — seen here May 30 recovering the Missouri doctor’s body — have since confirmed he was shot, but have not told Forsyth’s family they are continuing to investigate his death.
‘It is my understanding that he was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head, and it was not a suicide,’ the Missouri man’s brother told Fox News on Tuesday – after refraining from giving details of the 2022 case out of concern for his family.
‘It was planned. It’s very nicely done, and it’s very ominous,’
Without revealing who tipped him off about the fatal gunshots, Richard was adamant his sibling’s death was a homicide and the criminal — or criminals — responsible may still be out there.
‘I want to know if my family is in danger. I want to know if I’m in danger,’ said Richard of the second kidnapping charge. ‘We don’t have that information.’
Speaking to the outlet, Richard – who co-founded crypto firm OnFo with his brother in 2018 – added that he learned his brother had likely died the same day he disappeared from rural Cassville, a town of just 3,100 people.
He offered other details he says support his and his family’s claim that Forsyth was kidnapped and later killed, such as the fact that his brother and his ex-wife were on good terms and that their relationship ended about two years ago.
The account comes after she disclosed to Newstimesuk.com some of the circumstances surrounding her brother’s alleged kidnapping last year in early February 2022.
Richard said Forsythe – who allegedly invested millions in bitcoin in the early days – was abducted but did not report the crime.
She only told a mutual friend, who later recounted the story to the police and the rest of Richard’s family after Richard’s disappearance.
‘It was cold. He was zip tied. He was made to feel very unsafe and was taken to a bridge in a car with some people and threatened,’ said Richard.
John said the harrowing ordeal was somehow related to cryptocurrency but did not elaborate.
Without revealing who tipped him off about the fatal gunshot, Richard was adamant his sibling’s death was a homicide, and that the criminal – or criminals – responsible could still be out there, putting him and his family in danger.
‘He did not file a police report because he believed he was in constant danger,’ he added.
Despite the terrifying ordeal, Forsyth never filed a police report.
He also claimed there was no evidence yet to link Forsyth’s death last month to the 2022 incident but insisted: ‘It stands out very clearly in the table of facts that have come out about the case.’
Meanwhile, the three agencies investigating Forsyth’s death – the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Benton County Sheriff’s Office in Arkansas and the Cassville Police Department – have not commented on the case, other than saying the ‘investigation’ is active.
A frustrated Richard told Fox News: ‘They say they know a lot now and they’re halfway through their investigation. I don’t know what that means.’
Forsyth’s body was found near shore in the Lost Bridge South area of Beaver Lake, about 20 miles south of Cassville, police said.
Forsyth is pictured here with his pregnant fiancée Laura Barnett. He proposed three days before he disappeared. A few days ago, he finalized his divorce from the former mother of his seven children
A chilling new photo shows his stethoscope dangling from the rear-view mirror of his Infiniti sedan.
A 90-acre wide search was soon conducted by the Cassville Police Department, which failed to produce any results until a kayaker found her body last month.
What is known, is that Forsyth was last seen on surveillance footage walking to an RV in the parking lot of the hospital where she worked around 7 a.m., and texting her fiancé that she would see him later.
He replied at 6:59 am, but she never responded. He parked the $260,000 RV in the hospital parking lot so he could sleep between his long, 12-hour shifts.
That evening, Frothy was supposed to return to the hospital at 7 p.m., but never showed up. His other car, a black Infiniti, was later found a mile away near a waste facility at a recreation center, where he was seen entering on surveillance footage around 7:12 a.m.
Forsyth’s wallet, phone and passport were all left inside, as well as his stethoscope – left hanging from the car’s rearview mirror.
In the aforementioned surveillance footage, a white SUV can be seen briefly pulling up next to the sedan before driving off.
About 15 minutes later, a man police believe appears in the video shows the doctor walking out of the frame.
He was not seen returning to the car, which was parked and unlocked when police found it.
Investigators said they recovered a total of four phones – as well as a computer – from the RV and Infiniti, with detectives telling the family they were able to access all the devices and were about ‘halfway’ through the investigation.
‘It was a Google Pixel 6 Pro and the police said it was badly cracked, but I saw it pristine a few days ago,’ Richard told Fox on Tuesday.
When contacted, Burnett and John’s ex-wife declined to comment, although his father, Robert Forsyth, previously told Fox that his son has ‘made some enemies’ over the years and ‘there are people who don’t like what I do. refers to doing.’
When asked about this dynamic, Dada declined to elaborate.
Many family members did not know Forsyth was engaged to Laura Barnett, 39, at the time of his death.
The doctor proposed to Barnett, who was eight months pregnant, days before she disappeared. The couple worked together at Mercy Hospital, where she is a nurse.
Forsyth disappeared after leaving Mercy Hospital in Missouri on May 21, just ten days after divorcing his wife.
Shortly after he disappeared, authorities found his black sedan abandoned at Cassville Aquatic Park in the Ozarks.
Sheriff’s divers search Beaver Lake, Arkansas for clues in Forsyth’s suspected murder
It has since been claimed that the doctor had as many as five cell phones in his car, with his family saying they know of at least two.
His brother explained that Forsyth kept his relationship with his fiance out of respect for his ex-wife during their divorce — which saw a judge order the doctor to pay about $19,000 a month in alimony and child support.
Richard told Newstimesuk.com, ‘I think they were both aware of the sensitivity of releasing such information during the divorce. ‘And they also have their professional lives and reputations and I think they wanted to handle things appropriately.
‘They wanted to try to be as respectful as possible of the community they were involved with. And it’s a strange thing that we can sometimes show respect by omitting important facts.’
Richard also said police are treating the death as a homicide, but did not release additional details to the family.
Police have not said whether they are treating the death as a homicide or suicide, and have not released the location of the gunshot wound, saying autopsy results will not be released until the investigation is complete.
Newstimesuk.com has reached out to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
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