VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – The mystery of a diver who disappeared nearly 20 years ago has been solved in Volusia County with the help of DNA testing and the diving expertise of the county’s medical examiner.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office says DNA testing linked partial human remains that washed onto New Smyrna Beach in 2007 to a Robert Martin, a diver who disappeared off the coast of Ponce Inlet in 2006.
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Officials say they were unable to verify the identity of the remains until 2024, when the county medical examiner, Dr. James Fulcher, submitted the remains for forensic genetic genealogy testing through a state grant program.
A private lab was able to extract enough DNA, and in April of 2025, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was able to link the remains to Martin.
The sheriff’s office says Fulcher’s job wasn’t done yet. As an experienced deep diver, he and a detective examined the remnants of diving equipment found with Martin’s remains.
They determined that Martin’s death was accidental. Martin had been heading out to a popular dive spot offshore called the ”party ground" when he disappeared.
“With my diving background, I could examine the equipment and picture what he likely experienced,” Fulcher said in a news release. “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.”
Martin’s next of kin has been notified, according to the sheriff’s office.