Dr. John Forsyth, 49, an ER doctor and a co-founder of OnFo, a referral-based crypto project, was found dead in North-West Arkansas with a gunshot wound after disappearing nine days earlier. His body was discovered in Beaver Lake by a passing kayaker. Police deny foul play even though there are clues suggesting otherwise, including an earlier crypto-related kidnapping.
Happy life and a sudden disappearance
Forsyth, a father of seven, gave no signs of depression, and according to his family, he was the happiest in a long time. After finalizing his divorce recently, he proposed to his new partner and had stellar plans for the future. At around 7 a.m. on 21 May, after finishing a shift at Mercy Hospital in Cassville, in the Missouri Ozarks, Forsyth texted his fiancée, whom he was planning to meet. That was the last time he was heard from.
At approximately 7.15 a.m., he was captured on surveillance driving his Black Infinity into the parking lot of Cassville Aquatic Park. A white SUV then pulled up close to Forsyth's vehicle and stayed there for a few minutes. A bit later, the doctor and crypto entrepreneur was seen leaving his car and taking a stroll nearby. The next day, Forsyth failed to show up for his shift, which he never did before since he had begun his work at the Mercy Hospital 15 years ago. It was enough to raise the alarm.
Forysth didn't admit to being kidnapped last year
According to his younger brother Richard, who co-founded OnFo with John in 2020, in February 2022, John was kidnapped and subsequently released. He never admitted to that nor filed a report with the police. Richard learned about the incident from a mutual friend who disclosed that fact only after John's recent disappearance.
During the kidnapping, John was zip-tied, taken for a car ride to a bridge, and threatened. After being released, Forysth decided not to inform the police because he felt he was in continued danger. According to Richard, the kidnapping was crypto-related, but the perpetrators' identities remain unknown.
Police see no foul play
As of yet, there is no clear indication that John might have been kidnapped again. Still, he left his wallet, cell phone, passport, laptop, and briefcase inside the unlocked vehicle, which, according to Richard, is very uncharacteristic of his brother. "It doesn't seem like a person who left with a plan," the younger Forsyth told the Associated Press. Despite oddities concerning John's disappearance, local police who handle the case haven't observed any signs of foul play.
John Forsyth, named in a 2020 Forbes article among "countless millionaires" created during the previous two Bitcoin halvings, admitted to mining Bitcoin and Litecoin very early on and holding onto them. Thanks to a massive appreciation of digital assets, Forsyth was able to invest in the development of OnFo, a crypto platform enabling users to make money through network mining.
Weird series of crypto-related accidents
It's not the first suspicious event involving the death of a successful crypto investor in recent time. In October 2022, Nikolai Mushegian, a young crypto millionaire from Florida, drowned in Condado, Puerto Rico, where he lived in a $6 million residence. His death followed a series of eerie tweets claiming the CIA's and Mossad's involvement in a sex trafficking ring in the Caribbean Islands. Mushegian, considered a whizzkid, was reportedly found in full clothing and with his wallet on him, which seems weird for an accidental drowning, especially since there are no cliffs in the area
A month later, another crypto personage moved to the netherworld in strange circumstances. Tiantian Kullander, the co-founder of Amber Group, a Hong Kong-based tech unicorn valued at $3 billion at that time, died in his sleep at the age of 30. His death raised many suspicions, especially since Kullander's company was reportedly about to land a big investment, as Amber Group was in the process of raising $100 million.
The next crypto tycoon to die in mysterious circumstances was Vyacheslav Taran. The Russian businessman and a founder of Forex Club and Libertex, lost his life when his helicopter crashed near Villefranche-sur-Mer after taking off from Lausanne in Switzerland.
