The pregnant fiancée of ER doctor and crypto millionaire discovered dead in a lake in Arkansas can be pictured for the first time – as new eerie images show his stethoscope dangling from his abandoned car’s mirror.
Laura Barnett, 39, called Dr John Forsyth the ‘love of her life’ in a series of heartbreaking posts after he vanished on May 21.
Forsyth, 49, had recently finalized his divorce when he failed to turn up for his shift at the Mercy Hospital in Cassville, Missouri. His body was found nine days later in Beaver Lake, Arkansas, with police confirming he had been shot.
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.
But many were kept in the dark about his relationship with Barnett, who is eight months pregnant, with some only finding out that she existed after the tragedy.
Forsyth is pictured here for the first time with his pregnant fiancée Laura Barnett who in a social media post said she was ‘heart broken’ over his disappearance
Sheriff’s Divers search Beaver Lake, Arkansas, for clues in the suspected murder of Forsyth
In one eerie new image his stethoscope can be seen dangling around the rear-view mirror of his Infiniti sedan
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
Forsyth was last seen on surveillance footage walking towards an RV he kept in the car park at around 7am and had texted his fiancé to tell her he would see her later.
The family of Dr Forsyth was not aware of how the couple met, but a LinkedIn profile belonging to Barnett shows she worked as an ER nurse practitioner at the same hospital.
Posting on social media, Barnett said: ‘My love… love of my life… I miss you… more than anyone can imagine… my heart is broken every second I do not know if you’re ok….
‘PLEASE help in finding my fiancé Johnny… please share and reshare to keep his face out there if anyone has seen him….’
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, with the pair getting engaged just three days before he was last seen alive.
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.
The father-of-eight did not tell many relatives that he was engaged to Barnett and others had not met her until after his disappearance.
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
Many of his family members say they were kept in the dark about his relationship with Barnett, who is eight months pregnant
The family of Dr Forsyth was not aware of how the couple met, but a LinkedIn profile belonging to Barnett shows she worked as an ER nurse practitioner at the same hospital
An expansive 90-acre search was carried out by the Cassville Police Department
His brother Richard told DailyMail.com she was the ‘love of his life’ just days before he disappeared
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.
A further search by police revealed that two cell phones were left behind in Forsyth’s luxury RV that he stayed in while on-call at the hospital.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
It has since been claimed that the doctor had as many as five cell phones in his vehicle, with his family saying they knew of at least two
In a bizarre revelation, Richard previously revealed that his brother had been kidnapped and threatened by unidentified assailants in February 2022.
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.
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.
