Tonight, 41 year old Independence Villager Karl Wagner is missing - and there are grave concerns for his wellbeing.
He left his home in Independence village on Friday night in a boat called Neesha - and has not been seen since.
He never told his wife what business he was heading out on, but the Neesha has since been found submerged in southern waters - after an attempt was made to sink it. The vessel bore bullet holes - and its only known passenger is still unaccounted for.
Cherisse Halsall went south to speak to his family today:
41-year old Independence resident Karl Wagner has now been missing for 3 days. He left the village ahead of the weekend heading out to sea via the lagoon.
Francis Wagner, Brother of Missing Man
"He's missing from Friday night, yeah he is missing from Friday night up until now."
Cherisse Halsall:
"Tell me about the last interaction you had with Karl."
Francis Wagner, Brother of Missing Man
"Well the last time I saw him it was a couple of weeks from now. I work in Placencia, so, I don't come back here as often and that's the reason that I do not have that close interaction with him."
Cherisse Halsall:
"Now, when Karl left off to your knowledge what was he going to do. Was it a regular fishing trip?"
Francis Wagner, Brother of Missing Man
"I'm not really sure because what I got to understand was that he got a call on Friday night and then he left, that's what his wife tells me. I don't really know."
And at noon, the hour we spoke to Francis Wagner, his missing brother had yet to be found.
Francis Wagner, Brother of Missing Man
"My two other brothers are out there right now and I believe they have some other boats looking for him as well. We have some relatives in the coast guard as well looking for him but up until now, there is nothing I can say in terms of finding the body at this time."
Cherisse Halsall:
"And you say finding a body, does that mean that you have no confidence that they'll be able to find your brother alive."
Francis Wagner, Brother of Missing Man
"Well, the chances look very slim for me because of the way they found the boat with bullet holes and other stuff inside so the chances look slim but we still have hope."
That hope that's shared by Karl's girlfriend, today she was on the water as a part of the search party.
Francis Wagner, Brother of Missing Man
"He lives with his wife down at the Marina here, there is a Marina that he looks after. So he lived there. He is a building contractor, a fisherman. He does a whole lot in terms of living an honest and decent life."
"To see him that somebody would do something like that it's a cause for concern as to where this world is going. He is not perfect but he's tried to live an honest life like all of us."
The question now is did that honest man give into temptation and is his death the result of a drug deal gone bad?
Cherisse Halsall:
"A few months ago in May we heard the news that a drug plane had gone down off the coast of Placencia. Since then we've heard that U.S. dollars are floating around. Is that something you've heard and do you feel that someone connected to that drug plane could have harmed your brother?"
Francis Wagner, Brother of Missing Man
"Well, there is a possibility we haven't ruled anything out at this time, yes it could be but I don't really know there are a lot of rumors going around, there is a lot go things going around that I can't say you know whether it's that or it's something else. I just don't know."
"So, I just have to hold my hopes high and hope he's still alive you know, but you know it could be anything."
But, the sea is vast and so far he has not turned up - and the only real clue police have is this boat, the Neesha - which his attackers tried to sink with the engine - and only an air pocket in the bow, managed to keep this single piece of evidence from disappearing into the depths.
As we noted, the boat engine was not stolen - which suggests that whenever tired to sink it - was not your average sea pirate.
