- July 12, 2025
It’s not often that a diver helps solve the mystery of another diver’s disappearance — but that’s precisely what happened when Volusia County Medical Examiner Dr. James Fulcher brought both his forensic expertise and deep diving experience to bear on a nearly 20-year-old cold case.
A certified diver with 25 years of experience, Fulcher is no stranger to the risks and mechanics of diving. He is also the continuing medical education director and main lecturer for the International Society of Aquatic Medicine, an organization that evaluates dive safety and fitness to dive from a physician’s perspective. That firsthand knowledge proved essential in evaluating a set of recovered dive gear belonging to a man who vanished off the coast of Ponce Inlet in 2006. The case had gone cold despite years of investigation.
In 2007, a diver discovered gear at an offshore site east of Ponce Inlet, and partial human remains later washed ashore in New Smyrna Beach. DNA testing at the time failed to provide a match. The decedent was officially listed as a missing person in 2008.
It wasn’t until 2024 that the Volusia County Medical Examiner’s Office submitted the unidentified remains for advanced forensic testing under a state-funded initiative. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement determined it qualified for specialized support under the Missing and Unidentified Human Remains grant program. That funding enabled forensic genetic genealogy testing, a powerful tool for identifying individuals when traditional DNA comparison has failed.
Salt water, sun, sand, and time had all conspired to destroy most of the decedent’s biological material — conditions that usually make DNA recovery impossible. Yet, a private lab specializing in degraded DNA was able to extract a viable profile.
In April 2025, FDLE’s Genetic Genealogy Investigations Team began its work. One month later, they made a match: the remains belonged to Robert Martin, a diver who disappeared in 2006 during a trip to a popular dive site known as the “party grounds,” about 20 miles offshore.
From there, Fulcher and a detective from the Volusia Sheriff’s Office examined Martin’s recovered diving equipment.
“With my diving background, I could examine the equipment and picture what he likely experienced,” Fulcher said. “Based on the condition of the gear and known challenges of the dive site, we were able to pinpoint probable malfunctions and evaluate how his habits may have played a role. That helped us determine this was a tragic accident — not foul play.”
The Medical Examiner’s Office has officially ruled the manner of death accidental. Martin’s next of kin has been notified.
