On Jan. 27, 2013, Patrick Mullins took his boat out on the small river near his home, as he’d done hundreds of times before. Patrick, a popular teacher and school librarian, had spent his entire life on the water and knew the area intimately. But on that day, Patrick didn’t return home. The following day, the Coast Guard found his empty boat drifting in open water in Tampa Bay, and there was no indication of what had happened to Patrick.
Nine days later, Patrick’s body was found floating miles away from where his boat was recovered. He was bound to a boat anchor from the waist down and had sustained a shotgun blast to the head. Initially, investigators thought Patrick took his own life, but he seemed to be happily married with no financial issues or history of depression. Additionally, the forensics didn’t add up: How could Patrick shoot himself in the head with an unwieldy shotgun and not get any blood in the boat? And where was the gun? Could he have been murdered?
Nearly a decade later, Patrick’s manner of death is still classified as “undetermined” and the questions remain: What events led to his death? Did he witness some illegal activity on the river and get silenced? Family members suspect the possible involvement of an acquaintance who acted strangely after Patrick’s death — and later died of a drug overdose.
A week before he died, Patrick began to suffer from severe headaches that may have been a result of stress. Was he harboring a secret that he couldn’t even tell his wife? Here, his wife, Jill, speculates about what may have happened.
See photos of Patrick with his friends and family before he disappeared.
From photos of Patrick’s boat to images of his skull reconstruction, authorities have documented every step of their investigation. But is there a detail they could have missed?
See more bonus material from “Body in the Bay,” including private investigation reports and US Coast Guard documentation.
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