Nathan’s family arrive to join in search for son

The mother of Nathan Clarke, who vanished a week ago, has thanked the people of Cayman for helping search for her missing son.

Elizabeth Clarke told a candlelight vigil she was touched by the “outpouring of love” that has been shown since she and her husband, Randell arrived along with her other two children.

The Public Beach ceremony started at 6:30pm Sunday, drawing 150 onlookers and participants to the small bonfire, addressed by beach-based RCIPS search leader Jack Horner; Philip Beck, father of Mr Clarke’s fiancée Lisa Beck; and Mrs Clarke, who arrived Saturday evening with husband Randell, and Mr Clarke’s brother and sister.

“I want to say a big thank you,” Mrs Clarke told the crowd of mostly young people in a set of brief remarks. “We only arrived yesterday, and are touched by the outpouring. There is so much love on this island.”

Mr Beck, who arrived early last week with his wife Elizabeth, joining their daughter Lisa, 32, underscored Mrs Clarke’s appreciation, saying that thanking everyone involved “would take all night”.

“We have been completely overwhelmed with the generosity from the heart. We all love Nathan. He’s a great guy,” Mr Beck said. We want to keep going. There are a lot of very good people and we don’t want to stop.”

He thanked police and “the diving community on this island. We are not about to stop. We want to keep going until we get an outcome.”

Mr Clarke, 31, from Cheltenham in the UK, vanished last Saturday evening, 25 February, as he, Ms Beck and a group of friends shared drinks at Calico Jack’s, sitting at tables in the cafe area 30 feet from the water.

Between 8:30 and 9:00, Ms Beck later said, she last saw Mr Clarke “walking towards the water’s edge”. Thinking little of it, the group continued to socialise until, preparing to leave for their West Bay home, she called his telephone at 10 minutes after 9:00, hearing only his voicemail.

A massive land, sea and air search turned up no trace of Mr Clarke, until Wednesday, when a bather accidentally stumbled across Mr Clarke’s cell phone, submerged in 10 feet of water, 50 metres offshore.

Police immediately took possession of the handset, pinpointing a final outgoing call between 8:07 and 8:09 Saturday evening, and a number of incoming calls, routed directly to voicemail, as friends sought to ascertain Mr Clarke’s whereabouts.

Police later dismissed as “absolutely not correct” a search-team report that the handset continued to emit a signal until 1:00am on Monday.

Searchers have still not found Mr Clarke’s wallet or sunglasses.

“I have never had so many people come out in assistance in all my years as a search coach,” Mr Horner told the crowd, as both Mr Clarke’s and Ms Beck’s family circulated among participants, shielding candles from the breeze. “There is still a lot we can do on both the land and the ocean side on through next week. I am more than willing. My objective is to search for
Nathan Clarke.

“We have put in eight, 10, 12, 14 hours per day this week, and [Monday] will be a catch-up day,” he said, encouraging volunteers to “do your laundry, get groceries and catch-up on everything you missed out during the week.”

Police, parents and family, he said, “would sit down and plan what to do going forward. We will sit down away from the beach and look at what we want to do and where we want to go. And then we will start again on Tuesday morning.”