John Forsyth, Missouri doc found dead in lake, remembered at candlelight vigil
Explore More
The Missouri ER doctor whose body was found in a lake more than a week after he vanished under mysterious circumstances was remembered by his brother at a vigil as a compassionate physician.
Dr. John Forsyth, 49, a newly divorced father of eight who worked at Mercy Hospital in Cassville, was honored with a moment of silence at a candlelight vigil.
His brother Richard said the late doc’s life was his work, KY3 reported.
“So many stories of people whose lives he’s touched, whose lives he saved,” he told the crowd.
The grieving sibling mentioned a note he received from a woman who said Forsyth had saved her life.
“He prioritized her concerns and her situation above his own and talked her through it,” Richard said. “This was a man who was larger than life. This is a hero of mine.”
He added: “Everybody’s sibling is their hero, I guess. But he really was.”
The doctor had just gotten engaged to a nurse who was eight months pregnant with his baby when he went missing after being last seen alive on May 21.
The engagement came shortly after he finalized his divorce from his wife — a woman whom he had married twice between 1995 and 2022.
On May 10, a judge ordered him to pay his ex-wife $3,999 in child support a month, plus another $15,000 a month.
Forsyth, who had created a cryptocurrency with his brother and was reportedly a millionaire, did not contest the divorce, which by all accounts was amicable.
Authorities have not said whether they believe Forsyth was killed or died by suicide, though his family has dismissed any suggestion that he took his own life because he was reportedly happier than he had been in a long time.
On the day he disappeared, Forsyth had just finished a 12-hour shift and texted his fiancée that he would see her in “a little bit,” but then stopped responding to her messages, according to Detective Stuart Lombard.
Forsyth was seen entering someone’s vehicle, after leaving his Acura unlocked with his wallet, two phones, a laptop and other items inside.
His car was later found near a waste treatment facility near a public pool, with his stethoscope dangling from the rearview mirror.
A kayaker found Forsyth’s body nine days later floating in Beaver Lake in neighboring Arkansas, about 25 miles from Cassville, with a gunshot wound.
His brother has said the doctor was previously involved in dangerous situations and was kidnapped and released in February 2022.
The slain doctor’s father, Robert, has said his son told him he had “made some enemies” and hinted that “there are people who don’t like what I’m doing,” but he did not elaborate.
ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlf3R7j29mamtfn7ypuoyfpqurqam1brnIrKqoraKeeqW7wmadqK2emXqlscCdZKKmXaGurLGMq5ymnZ2XsrOxw2aYrWWTlruluMSloKCgpGLDqrPIpWY%3D