One hundred days after the disappearance of Adam H.B., the 16-year-old from Roses (Alt Empordà) who on the afternoon of June 10 went out on a jet ski with four friends and did not return home, the case remains open with more questions than answers. The Judicial Police of the Civil Guard Command in Girona, investigating the “strange” circumstances of the disappearance, has encountered numerous difficulties in searching for the young man from the very beginning. Among them, the guide of the jet ski rental company, who did not go out with the minors although he was obliged to, took more than two hours to report the disappearance; the friends gave different versions that even made it difficult to know the last place where Adam was; or that the company did not have the GPS tracking system active because they had not paid for the activation. The family, who published a poster with Adam’s photo and description, now addresses his friends and the guide: “Those who were with him should tell the truth, so we can find him.”
Adam’s parents have lived in Roses for three decades, where he was born on January 17, 2010. He is the second of five siblings, three boys and two girls, all minors. This year he was going to attend 4th year of ESO at the Cap Norfeu institute, and he played football on a local team. His family is desperate over the different versions and lack of answers. “That the friends or one of the guides of the jet ski rental company tell the truth,” asks a relative, who assures that “his mother remains hopeful that at some point her son will walk through the door.” The investigation does not completely rule out any hypothesis, but the hope of finding him alive is almost nil.
On the cloudy and cold afternoon of June 10, Adam and four friends rented three jet skis from the company Hype Jetski to go out from seven to eight. It was not the first time. According to the family, they lacked parental permission – which is mandatory – and it is also unclear who paid for the outings, which cost 100 euros per hour per jet ski. They were minors and did not work.
The boys were playing by crossing paths with the jet skis and recorded it on their phones. Something happened in the time between those videos, in which Adam appears dressed in black and wearing a fluorescent yellow life jacket on a fuchsia jet ski, around 7:40 p.m., and the return to the port of his four friends, two of them on the jet ski Adam was riding. So far, they have given different accounts of his disappearance. Initially, that two of them had their jet skis sink and were rescued by a boat, and that another also had a broken jet ski. Therefore, only Adam had a jet ski, according to their story, he went away to record videos and they lost sight of him.
Supposedly, due to the problems with the jet skis, they called the guide, who approached where they were. Investigators are surprised that he did not call the National Coordination Center in Madrid until 10:44 p.m. to report that he was with some minors and had not seen one of them for two hours. Some of the versions place him between Canyelles and La Almadrava and others at the entrance of the Santa Margarida urbanization, where the group started and where the jet ski rental company is located. When around 11:45 p.m. the family showed up at the premises asking about their son, they found no answers, nor from their son’s friends, who had gone home.
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Sources close to the case maintain that information has been hidden from the start and contradictory versions have been provided. According to Aemet, that afternoon a tramontana wind was blowing in Roses at about 25 km/h, the northeast wind pushed the marine current southwest, which according to experts would have carried the jet ski adrift to Sant Pere Pescador or l’Escala. They find it unlikely that 19 hours later it could have landed on the sand of Pals beach – as happened – about 16 miles away, bypassing the bay and without anyone seeing it, neither emergency teams nor other sea users. The jet ski appeared with a hit on the rear part and another jet ski had a hit on the front part. The Civil Guard is investigating whether they already had these damages or if they occurred that same afternoon, as well as the bruises one of the friends had.
The lack of truthful information means the family also deals with all kinds of rumors, among neighbors, social networks, and even the media. From those who say Adam was picking marijuana bundles in the Empuriabrava canals (Castelló d’Empúries), an area known to the police for concentrating this type of criminal activity; to being calmly in a house in southern France. Initially, according to sources close to the case, the investigation rules out both possibilities because no evidence or indications have been found to support them. One hypothesis that, according to sources close to the case, is considered by family, acquaintances, and also the investigation, is that an accidental accident with the jet skis occurred and it has been covered up. It also does not help that on that very day Adam had changed his phone and the new one did not have a SIM card.
Investigators thoroughly examined the company Hype Jetski, opened about a year ago, based in Santa Margarida, in Roses, and sealed off about ten jet skis, including those that had damage. The company was violating several regulatory aspects. Meanwhile, divers from the Civil Guard’s Special Underwater Activities Group (GEAS) searched the bay for days despite not having a precise reference point of where he might have disappeared. In case he had drowned and sunk, between 7 and 10 days, depending on factors such as water temperature, the body should surface. Another aspect that does not add up for either family or investigators is that, wearing a life jacket, he would not have floated.
Adam was searched for by land, sea, and air for days, but the only thing known for sure is that on the afternoon of June 10 he went out on a jet ski with four friends and they returned home and he did not.
