Searching the seas to solve a mystery
Experienced boater Jim Trindade vanished near the Bahamas in suspicious circumstances. Now, his friends and fellow boaters are launching an investigation of their own.
Roger Gamblin's head is filled with questions, but so few answers. How could his friend of 30 years, an experienced boater, have vanished without a trace? If there was a struggle aboard his boat, where is the evidence? Where is his cargo? If the boat was stolen, why did it return? And who filled the gas tank?
Some time around 4 p.m. Jan. 12, Trindade, 54, a colorful Atlantis resident who was popular in the local boating community, disappeared while returning home from a two-week boat trip to Spanish Cay in the Bahamas. Within 24 hours, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter discovered Trindade's boat idling and unoccupied about 40 miles off the coast of Port St. Lucie.
In the weeks that followed, the FBI launched an investigation, which is typical in missing-person cases at sea. But that effort is being equaled, perhaps exceeded, by Gamblin and a group of Trindade's closet friends and fellow boaters.
Nearly every day for the last five weeks, the "Jimmy T. Recovery Team" has sifted through global-positioning data, instrument readouts, ocean current records and maps of the Caribbean. Three projection screens hang from the log-cabin walls at Gamblin's home west of West Palm Beach. A half-dozen laptop computers and printers sit atop a conference table in the middle of the room. The group has pooled resources to hire private investigators in Miami and the Bahamas, and its own forensic team that says it may be close to a major breakthrough in the case.
"You go through a thousand theories about what could have happened," said Gamblin, 57. "We're never going to be satisfied until we know what happened."
"The unfortunate reality is that a lot of the FBI's resources, justifiably, have been redirected toward terrorism," said Ross Gaffney, a Miami private investigator and former FBI agent looking into the Trindade case. "For a lot of families who can spend the money, this is maybe their best option."
The peculiar circumstances surrounding Trindade's disappearance have sparked debate in the boating community and online chat rooms about what could have happened. Some, like Gamblin, suspect Trindade was a victim of foul play. Pirates, perhaps. Others speculate he was knocked off his boat by a wave or strong gust of wind. A few wonder if people in his own party conspired to get rid of him.
FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said the case remained open but declined to comment further. To quash rumors and to keep the investigation moving forward, Gamblin has launched his own Web site, www.helpjimmy.org, with a detailed timeline of the events.
It was a route Trindade and the others had taken dozens of times in the last 20 years. The sky that January day was a brilliant, bright blue, the air crisp. It was a perfect day to be on the water, Gamblin said. The three boats convened at their last stop at Grand Cay Island at 10:45 a.m. to refuel. They departed at 12:30 p.m., and within two hours, mechanical problems forced boats piloted by Roger Gamblin's son Chris and friend Brian Pratt to fall behind. Trindade, traveling in a more powerful 38-foot Donzi, forged ahead.
Shortly before 3 p.m., Chris Gamblin and Pratt heard Trindade urgently radio the U.S. Coast Guard. "U.S. Coast Guard. U.S. Coast Guard," was all Trindade said before static cut communication. It was the last anyone heard of Trindade, a real estate developer, husband and father of a 14-year-old girl.
According to the Coast Guard, search helicopters departed Miami and Clearwater around 10 p.m., seven hours after the initial call. By 1 a.m., they located Trindade's boat. When Gamblin inspected it, he noticed a number of strange things:
First, the boat's GPS tracking system had been erased, making it impossible to know where it had been during the time Trindade went missing. Second, the boat's fuel tank was nearly at capacity. Third, two heavy coolers packed with meat loaded in Spanish Cay were missing. But some of the meat was scattered at the rear of the boat. Fourth, if it was a robbery, why were the expensive fishing rods and tackle still on board?
If Trindade fell victim to pirates, why was there no evidence of a struggle? Why was their no blood? If he had been knocked overboard, where were the coolers? And who erased the GPS?
One other memory haunts Gamblin about that day: Around 3:30 p.m., after the two trailing boats had lost sight of Trindade, Pratt saw a black boat, similar to Trindade's, racing at a high rate of speed seemingly toward the southern tip of the Grand Bahama Island. Chris Gamblin gave chase for a few minutes but could not catch it. If it was Trindade's boat -- no one is certain -- where was it headed? And if Trindade had been abducted, where was he taken? Could he still be alive?
After a more thorough inspection of Trindade's Donzi, the forensic team hired by Gamblin believes it may have discovered three separate remnants of vomit on the side of the hull. They're awaiting tests from a lab. Gamblin said Trindade was far too experienced a boater to have vomited in that manner on such a calm day. Does this prove his theory that others boarded Trindade's boat? And if so, who?
A background check into Trindade's life gave no obvious reasons why someone would want to harm him, Gaffney said. He did not owe large sums of money. He did not have a lavish life insurance policy.
"You can't rule anything out, you can't eliminate any possibility," Gaffney said. "Everything we've seen has pointed toward an act of piracy. But that's only a starting point."
Roger Gamblin's head is filled with questions, but so few answers. How could his friend of 30 years, an experienced boater, have vanished without a trace? If there was a struggle aboard his boat, where is the evidence? Where is his cargo? If the boat was stolen, why did it return? And who filled the gas tank?
But the really painful question, the one that still keeps Gamblin up at night, is this: Is Jim Trindade still alive?
Some time around 4 p.m. Jan. 12, Trindade, 54, a colorful Atlantis resident who was popular in the local boating community, disappeared while returning home from a two-week boat trip to Spanish Cay in the Bahamas. Within 24 hours, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter discovered Trindade's boat idling and unoccupied about 40 miles off the coast of Port St. Lucie.
In the weeks that followed, the FBI launched an investigation, which is typical in missing-person cases at sea. But that effort is being equaled, perhaps exceeded, by Gamblin and a group of Trindade's closet friends and fellow boaters.
Nearly every day for the last five weeks, the "Jimmy T. Recovery Team" has sifted through global-positioning data, instrument readouts, ocean current records and maps of the Caribbean. Three projection screens hang from the log-cabin walls at Gamblin's home west of West Palm Beach. A half-dozen laptop computers and printers sit atop a conference table in the middle of the room. The group has pooled resources to hire private investigators in Miami and the Bahamas, and its own forensic team that says it may be close to a major breakthrough in the case.
"You go through a thousand theories about what could have happened," said Gamblin, 57. "We're never going to be satisfied until we know what happened."
The group's grassroots effort is exhaustive and expensive but follows an emerging trend in high-profile missing-person cases such as Natalee Holloway, Laci Peterson and Chandra Levy. Unsatisfied by the efforts of law enforcement agencies to locate their missing loved ones, friends and family are leading their own investigations.
"The unfortunate reality is that a lot of the FBI's resources, justifiably, have been redirected toward terrorism," said Ross Gaffney, a Miami private investigator and former FBI agent looking into the Trindade case. "For a lot of families who can spend the money, this is maybe their best option."
The peculiar circumstances surrounding Trindade's disappearance have sparked debate in the boating community and online chat rooms about what could have happened. Some, like Gamblin, suspect Trindade was a victim of foul play. Pirates, perhaps. Others speculate he was knocked off his boat by a wave or strong gust of wind. A few wonder if people in his own party conspired to get rid of him.
FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said the case remained open but declined to comment further. To quash rumors and to keep the investigation moving forward, Gamblin has launched his own Web site, www.helpjimmy.org, with a detailed timeline of the events.
It was a route Trindade and the others had taken dozens of times in the last 20 years. The sky that January day was a brilliant, bright blue, the air crisp. It was a perfect day to be on the water, Gamblin said. The three boats convened at their last stop at Grand Cay Island at 10:45 a.m. to refuel. They departed at 12:30 p.m., and within two hours, mechanical problems forced boats piloted by Roger Gamblin's son Chris and friend Brian Pratt to fall behind. Trindade, traveling in a more powerful 38-foot Donzi, forged ahead.
Shortly before 3 p.m., Chris Gamblin and Pratt heard Trindade urgently radio the U.S. Coast Guard. "U.S. Coast Guard. U.S. Coast Guard," was all Trindade said before static cut communication. It was the last anyone heard of Trindade, a real estate developer, husband and father of a 14-year-old girl.
According to the Coast Guard, search helicopters departed Miami and Clearwater around 10 p.m., seven hours after the initial call. By 1 a.m., they located Trindade's boat. When Gamblin inspected it, he noticed a number of strange things:
First, the boat's GPS tracking system had been erased, making it impossible to know where it had been during the time Trindade went missing. Second, the boat's fuel tank was nearly at capacity. Third, two heavy coolers packed with meat loaded in Spanish Cay were missing. But some of the meat was scattered at the rear of the boat. Fourth, if it was a robbery, why were the expensive fishing rods and tackle still on board?
If Trindade fell victim to pirates, why was there no evidence of a struggle? Why was their no blood? If he had been knocked overboard, where were the coolers? And who erased the GPS?
One other memory haunts Gamblin about that day: Around 3:30 p.m., after the two trailing boats had lost sight of Trindade, Pratt saw a black boat, similar to Trindade's, racing at a high rate of speed seemingly toward the southern tip of the Grand Bahama Island. Chris Gamblin gave chase for a few minutes but could not catch it. If it was Trindade's boat -- no one is certain -- where was it headed? And if Trindade had been abducted, where was he taken? Could he still be alive?
After a more thorough inspection of Trindade's Donzi, the forensic team hired by Gamblin believes it may have discovered three separate remnants of vomit on the side of the hull. They're awaiting tests from a lab. Gamblin said Trindade was far too experienced a boater to have vomited in that manner on such a calm day. Does this prove his theory that others boarded Trindade's boat? And if so, who?
A background check into Trindade's life gave no obvious reasons why someone would want to harm him, Gaffney said. He did not owe large sums of money. He did not have a lavish life insurance policy.
"You can't rule anything out, you can't eliminate any possibility," Gaffney said. "Everything we've seen has pointed toward an act of piracy. But that's only a starting point."
1 comment:
I would say Roger Gamblin knows something. Maybe Trinadade knew too much. Seeing that Gamblin is MIA with $10M.
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