The brother of an ER doctor who was found dead in the Ozarks has criticized suggestions he had been living in an RV because he couldn’t afford $19,000 a month in alimony and child support for his eight children.
The body of Dr. John Forsyth, 49, was found with a gunshot wound in Beaver Lake, Arkansas, nine days after he was reported missing when he unusually failed to show up for work.
The father was seen on surveillance footage on May 21, the day of his disappearance, walking to a luxury motor home he had parked in the parking lot of the hospital in Cassville, Missouri, where he worked.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, his brother Richard said the allegations that Forsyth lived in the caravan because he couldn’t pay alimony are “not true at all” and “just ignorant.”
“He had an RV that he stayed in when he was on call for your shift. There were periods when he was working but was not needed and had to be available,” Richard claimed.
The body of dr. John Forsyth, 49, was found with a gunshot wound in Beaver Lake in northeast Arkansas
His brother Richard told DailyMail.com that the doctor would use the luxury camper to rest during his duty or shift because he worked long hours.
Forsyth is pictured here, his pregnant fiancé Laura Barnett, who he told his brother Richard was the “love of his life”
“And so the RV was in the parking lot of the hospital where he was supposed to be on duty — he’d just go there to rest, get some rest where he could, because sometimes he worked, you know, 9, 10, 12 hours in line.
“And even during those periods when he wasn’t, theoretically, he could be summoned and so he had to get sleep-pause code, so he had that RV, but he also had other houses and buildings.”
Forsyth had seven children with his wife and one more with another mother. According to Richard, they range in age from one year to about 25 years old.
His divorce was finalized last month and he was ordered to pay about $19,000 a month in alimony and child support, with many online commentators theorizing that his death may be related to the payments.
Forsyth was last seen getting into someone’s vehicle in the parking lot of a public swimming pool in Cassville. He was then seen getting out of the vehicle and walking across the parking lot for 10 to 15 minutes.
At the time of his death, many family members were unaware that Forsyth was engaged to 39-year-old Laura Barnett.
The doctor had proposed to Barnett, who is reportedly eight months pregnant, just days before he went missing. The couple worked together at Mercy Hospital, where she is a nurse.
His brother explained that Forsyth had kept his relationship with his fiancé a secret out of respect for his ex-wife during their divorce.
“I think they were both aware of the sensitivity of coming out with information like that during a divorce,” Richard told DailyMail.com. “And they also have their professional lives and reputations, and I think they wanted to do things the right way.
“They wanted to try to be as respectful as possible to the communities they belong to. And it’s weird to say that sometimes we show respect by omitting important facts.’
Richard also said police are treating the death as homicide but have not released additional details to the family.
Police have not said whether they are treating the death as homicide or suicide, and have not released the location of the gunshot wound, saying autopsy results will not be revealed until the investigation is complete.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
The brothers had dinner several days before Forsyth disappeared, and Richard said his behavior prior to his death was not “the actions of a person who commits suicide.”
He said, “On May 17, which was four days before my brother went missing, he and I ate for three hours. We had, I think in hindsight, a very long goodbye.
Forsyth’s body was found near the shore opposite the Lost Bridge South area of Beaver Lake, about 20 miles south of Cassville, police said
Shortly thereafter, a sprawling 90-acre search was conducted by the Cassville Police Department, which yielded no results until a kayaker found his body last month
In an eerie new image, his stethoscope can be seen dangling around the rearview mirror of his Infiniti sedan
“It was at that dinner he told me about [his fiancée] Laura, and that he was very happy to have found her and that they were very much in love. And I congratulated him.
“He really seems to have found something that made them happy.
And I told him I was just really happy about that. And he was very optimistic about the future
Authorities found Forsyth’s black Infiniti sedan abandoned at the Cassville Aquatic Park. The car keys were inside, along with Forsyth’s wallet, passport, and briefcase. His two cell phones were found in the RV at the hospital.
Shortly afterward, a sprawling 200-acre search was conducted by the Cassville Police Department, yielding no 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, about 20 miles south of Cassville.
New photos show officers searching across the lake where his body was found, a stethoscope hanging eerily from the rearview mirror of his car.
In a bizarre revelation, Richard previously revealed that his brother was kidnapped and threatened by unknown assailants in February 2022.
Richard, who co-founded the crypto company 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.
Richard cautioned there was no evidence yet to link the 2022 incident to John’s death, but added: “It stands out very strongly in the tables of facts that have emerged on the case.”
‘It was cold. He was tied up. He felt very unsafe and was taken to a bridge with some people and threatened.
“He didn’t report it to the police because he thought he was in constant danger.”
During the police investigation, the family says they prefer to be left in the dark if it means they get “justice” before the doctor.