After the body of Patrick Bomba was found floating in the muddy backwaters of Calaveras Lake last month, his death was ruled an accidental drowning by the medical examiner.
But family members claim that Bomba was murdered and they say that they’ve given detectives proof.
"My brother's soul will not rest in peace until everyone knows the truth and there's justice,” said Bomba’s brother, Clint Carroll. “I just want him to rest in peace.”
The family is adamant that the avid outdoorsman, who had fished at Calaveras Lake his entire life, was an unlikely drowning victim.
Family members say that it was a gruesome scene when the 32-year-old was found by an uncle three days after he was last seen alive. His decomposing body was found July 28 in the shallows of the lake near Foster Road, not too far from his family’s home.
Although associates told the family that Bomba was last seen going fishing, the family said that he had no fishing gear with him, no backpack, and no shoes when his body was found.
Carroll said that those details raised his suspicions from the outset.
“He went fishing with no tackle box and no shoes?" Carroll asked.
Days after his death, Carroll said that rumors of a drug debt and threats surfaced. Carroll said his brother used and sold drugs, and he claims that he found evidence that Bomba owed a dealer for drugs.
"He was in debt 45 G’s," Carroll said.
Based on a cryptic drawing that a friend delivered to the family, Carroll believes that his brother was drugged, unconscious, and tossed in the lake.
Carroll delivered the drawing to Bexar County Sheriff’s Office detectives.
“I brought a drawing to them where these people drew out his murder. They drew a photo. It's two butterflies on the top, it's a picture of the lake, and it says, ‘on the fly,’ which means, ‘when I see you.’ It says ‘45Gs,’ which is why my brother was murdered,” Carroll described. “What they did was they ‘roofied’ him. They used Rohypnol, which is a date rape drug, to slip him. And so he was unconscious, and he was out. And then, they dumped him off the bridge into the lake.”
And the family’s clues don’t end there. Carroll says that the behavior of the family dog, who was exceptionally loyal to Bomba, cannot be easily explained away. He also said that the people he believes are involved in the death have told conflicting stories about events leading up to Bomba’s disappearance.
Carroll said that both he and his mother have received threatening messages by phone and social media in the last few weeks. Carroll said that his mother has added armed security to her home and he is being extra cautious.
“I don't stay in that house no more. I don't bring my son there. I have to look around every corner because they murdered my brother. They might murder me next,” Carroll noted.
Carroll said that the loss and the continuing drama are particularly hard on their mother, whose kidneys are failing.
“They didn't only take my brother, they're killing my mom, and it's hurting her so much, and she has no peace,” he said. “She has kidney failure and she's dying, but now she's dying faster.”
Carroll said that even though his brother did things he did not agree with, he deserves justice. Carroll said that a detective told him that Bomba knew the kind of dangerous people he was associating with and it was a risk he willingly accepted.
“It was like he was saying he deserved it,” Carroll said. “I know what my brother was doing was wrong. I work for a living. I don't do nothing like that. But he still did not deserve to get murdered.”
Carroll added that his brother’s body was so badly decomposed after three days in the lake, they couldn’t even have a proper viewing service.
“He wasn't even in his casket. At the viewing, everyone was hugging and kissing an empty casket,” Carroll said.
A BCSO spokesman confirms that they are looking into the matter. They say they are interested in talking with anyone who may have first-hand knowledge of what happened to Patrick Bomba in the last hours of his life.
The non-emergency number for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office is 210-335-6000.