Jimmy T Disappears From Boat After Spanish Cay Vacation

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James "Jimmy T" Trindade is a man's man who enjoyed demanding sports like spearfishing, auto racing, and kickboxing.

James "Jimmy T" Trindade is an all-around athlete with a passion for ocean athletics, especially water skiing, diving, boating, deep sea fishing. When Jimmy wasn't at sea, he enjoyed land sports like big game hunting, kickboxing, and Porsche racing.

More important to Jimmy than sports were his family and friends. He and longtime friend Roger Gamblin shared a passion for fishing in the waters around Spanish Cay in the Bahamas, often bringing their families along. The two families threw post-holiday parties that many considered legendary. Jimmy served as chef for such soirées, preparing stuffed shrimp and other dishes.

Holidays spent in the islands made lasting and pleasant memories for Jimmy, but the festivities in 2006 ended in tragedy when Jimmy disappeared.

On the morning of January 12, 2006, the annual festivities on Spanish Cay came to an end, and the Trindade clan headed back toward their home in Florida. Jimmy took the helm of Roger's 38' Donzi, a sport fishing boat with three 275 HP Mercury outboard motors capable of reaching speeds in excess of 60 mph. Roger had purchased the boat only a few weeks earlier, after it was featured in the movie "Miami Vice."

Roger remained on the island with a handful of stragglers; Jimmy's wife of 16 years, Candace, and their 14-year-old daughter, Taylor, had already returned home.

Steaming Into The Void

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Jimmy T left Spanish Cay on January 12, 2006 as part of a convoy of three boats. He's seen here that morning at the helm of Roger Gamblin's 38' Donzi sportfishing boat. Roger's son Chris was piloting the 35' Donzi in the background.

Jimmy steered the Donzi out of Spanish Cay, followed by two of Roger's other boats. Roger's 23-year-old son piloted a 35' Donzi, while his friend Brian Pratts steered a 22' Angler. According to friends on the island of Grand Cay, the three men stopped there about two hours into their trip for food and fuel. After filling all three boats to capacity, the group steered past Memory Rock, set a course toward Boynton Inlet, and headed home. Having the most power, Jimmy's boat quickly pulled ahead of the other two.

Shortly after leaving Grand Cay, Brian reported a problem with his oil tank. Chris stopped when he noticed Brian falling behind, but Jimmy kept going, and eventually went out of sight. Brian tried unsuccessfully to reach Chris on his VHF, but was able to contact Jimmy, who said he'd slow down and idle until the other two could catch up. One of Jimmy's two Global Positioning (GPS) systems would later show that his boat was five miles away from the others, about 45 miles off the Florida coast.

Half an hour after Jimmy agreed to wait for Chris and Brian to catch up, the two men heard his voice crackling over the radio on an emergency call channel: "U.S. Coast Guard! U.S. Coast Guard!"

After hearing Jimmy's frantic message, Chris and Brian alerted the Coast Guard, but an official search couldn't be launched until Jimmy was logged as "overdue," which he wouldn't be until several hours later.

Roger Gamblin didn't want to wait, so he hired two private pilots to start a private search for his friend, but that was delayed because President Bush was in Florida, and no other aircraft was permitted to take off until after Air Force One departed at 7:25 p.m.  When one of Roger's chartered planes finally took off, the pilot searched for hours and found nothing.

What Happened?

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A Coast Guard jet with infrared radar found the big Donzi doing cirlces off the Florida coast about 11 hours after Trindade's last transmission. He was not on board.

A Coast Guard HU-25 Falcon jet with infrared sensors found Jimmy's Donzi doing circles off the coast of Stuart, Fla. at 1:09 a.m., about 11 hours after Jimmy's last known contact. No one was on board. Missing from the boat were two coolers of food, a handheld VHF radio, and some Cuban cigars. Boxes of frozen tenderloin and shrimp were scattered around the deck, and the boat's brand new GPS system had been tampered with.

The Coast Guard chalked up Jimmy's disappearance to a "boating accident," and suggested that Roger Gamblin contact the FBI in Miami. Unsatisfied, Roger spent a large amount of his own money searching for his friend, hiring private planes and a team of private investigators, and also filed Freedom of Information Act requests for satellite images the Secret Service may have used during President Bush's January 12 visit to Palm Beach. Roger even turned his living room into a command center, complete with laptop computers, projection screens, and navigational charts.

The FBI initially questioned Chris Gamblin and Brian Pratts, a surprise to Roger Gamblin, who felt that investigators wasted valuable time looking for drugs instead of Jimmy. Roger maintains that his son and Brian had nothing to do with Jimmy's disappearance, and has hired a lawyer.

There are many unanswered questions and theories about what may have happened to Jimmy Trindade. Here is a short list of the most probable scenarios:

Jimmy Trindade hit a rogue wave, or something in the water; he and the coolers were thrown overboard.

Problems with this theory: the waves were only two to three feet on the day of Jimmy's disappearance, and the Donzi's deep V-hull was designed for crushing whitecaps. In addition, the hull shows no signs of damage from a collision, and the three outboard motors display no signs of an "over-rev," or leaving the water.

While idling and waiting for Chris and Brian to catch up, Jimmy slipped and fell overboard; the boat kept moving, and he couldn't catch up.

Problems with this theory: It's unlikely that a boater as fit and experienced as Jimmy fell overboard, and even if that did happen, where are the coolers? Also, how did the GPS systems get messed up? Furthermore, the boat wouldn't have used as much gas as it did just idling. Also, Jimmy was a strong swimmer, who probably would have caught a boat splashing along at idle speed -- unless he was knocked unconscious.

Jimmy decided that he didn't want to return to his life in Florida and faked his death.

Problems with this theory: Jimmy's family says that he asked several friends to fly over and make the crossing with him, but they were all busy. By most accounts, he had a stable marriage, a teenage daughter he cared about, a successful business, and no major financial troubles. If there were problems under the surface, he did an excellent job hiding them.

Jimmy had a run-in with some modern-day pirates.

The FBI says this is not out of the question, because drug runners have preyed upon pleasure boaters making the Florida-Bahamas crossing for a long time, commandeering boats to move their contraband, and forcing the occupants over the side at gunpoint. Someone could have ambushed the Donzi while Jimmy idled along, whether they shot him or forced him into the water, then ransacked the coolers and took the VHF radio and the Cuban cigars. Brian Pratts claims to have spotted a boat like the big Donzi speeding in the direction of Freeport about 35 minutes after Jimmy's last transmission, and someone on a cruise ship in the vicinity also had a clear view of the vessel. The pirates could have used the boat for a run and returned it to the spot they took it from, explaining the amount of fuel that had been used. Then, they could have tampered with the GPS to cover their tracks, and cut the boat loose.

Problems with this theory: If Jimmy had the engines running, he could have throttled up at the first sign of a suspicious boat headed his way; Roger Gamblin says that the boat's three Mercury outboards would have enabled Jimmy to outrun almost any other boat. Moreover, friends and family say he never would have let another boat get near him; he'd usually keep his distance from other boats in distress, calling the Coast Guard before doing anything. Also, he wouldn't stop for anybody unless they had some kind of badge -- real or otherwise.

Jimmy was involved in or happened upon foul play.

In a variation of the above scenario, Jimmy Trindade could have happened upon drug dealers in the middle of a transaction, and they wasted him, leaving the boat to make it look like an accident.

Problems with this theory: Jimmy's family and friends are adamant that he had nothing at all to do with drugs or any other criminal activity.

So what happened to Jimmy Trindade? The FBI, ICE, and Jimmy's family and friends are hoping someone comes forward who witnessed what happened to Jimmy, or overheard someone talking about the incident.

It may be the only way to get answers about this tragedy.