A two-minute recording landed on voicemail. It included an unnatural howl, deep growls, choking sounds, and groans. At the very end—just before the call disconnected—a quiet voice said, "Stop."
This is the last recorded trace of Henry McCabe, a 31-year-old auditor from Minnesota, who disappeared in the early morning hours of September 7, 2015. Two months later, his body was recovered from a marshy lake several miles from where he was last seen. Although an autopsy revealed drowning without any obvious signs of violence, Henry's case remains controversial and questionable to this day.
Henry T. McCabe, known to his family by the pseudonym "Tuku" (and sometimes listed in documents as Joseph Fa Bora McCabe), was born in Lofa County, Liberia, in 1984. As a child, he fled his homeland, which was ravaged by civil war, after his father was murdered. He and his family moved to Ghana, from where they later emigrated to the United States.
In California, he studied economics and accounting. While there, he met his future wife, Karine. The couple married in August 2004, had two daughters, and eventually moved to Mounds View, Minnesota. There, Henry took a job as a corporate auditor for the state Department of Revenue. He was also a union leader (MAPE). In his free time, he played soccer and was involved in the local community. He planned to return to Liberia and run for president in the future.
Sunday, September 6, 2015, was the extended Labor Day weekend, one of the few days off for Americans. Henry's wife and daughters were in California at the time. Henry was spending the evening with friends. First, he went to a family barbecue, where he met an old Liberian acquaintance, 38-year-old William "Papaus" Kennedy. Then the two went to Povitzki's on 65 in Spring Lake Park.
Several unusual events occurred at the premises:
- Missing Wallet: At one point, Henry gave his wallet to a friend, Jonathan "JT" Thomas, to buy another round of drinks. However, the wallet was never returned.
- Car Keys: William Kennedy took Henry's car keys, explaining that he wanted to prevent his drunk friend from driving.
- Lost tooth: CCTV cameras at the club captured Henry missing one of his front teeth. No witnesses could explain when or under what circumstances this happened.
- Around 1:40 a.m., Henry and William Kennedy drove away in Kennedy's car. Henry was heavily intoxicated. He was talking on the phone to his wife while driving.
Kennedy initially told police that, at Henry's request, he dropped him off at the Super America station on 73rd Avenue in Fridley. However, investigators verified this using surveillance and GPS data – in fact, Kennedy had dropped his friend off at the Holiday station in Fridley, several miles from his home and in a completely different direction. The footage shows Henry getting out of the car and walking away. He had no keys or identification with him.
At 2:09 a.m., Henry was still talking to JT Thomas. He spoke calmly, claiming to be one minute from home. Fourteen minutes later, at 2:23 a.m., Henry's phone connected with Karine. Hearing disturbing sounds, Karine tried to transfer the call to Henry's brother, Timothy Borbor. Timothy didn't answer, but the call went to voicemail—the infamous two-minute recording of growling, moaning, and the words "Stop!"
Timothy also received a second call that same night. He reported hearing Henry whispering the words "police" and an unintelligible "pois," which could have meant "poison" or a garbled form of the word "boys." The second recording was never released to the public. When Henry didn't show up for work on Tuesday, September 8, his family officially reported him missing.
The search lasted nearly two months. On November 2, 2015, a kayaker on Rush Lake in New Brighton spotted a floating body. Tests confirmed it was Henry McCabe. Rush Lake was located approximately 10 kilometers from the gas station where he was last seen.
An autopsy performed by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner revealed:
- advanced decomposition of the body, making it impossible to determine the exact time of death;
- no stab wounds, fractures, gunshot wounds, or other injuries indicating a struggle or strangulation;
- the cause of death was determined to be drowning, and the case was classified as an accident (the alcohol concentration in the liver was 0.053%, and the pathologist noted that being in water could have lowered the actual results);
- Henry's phone was in his shorts pocket, but the battery and cash had been removed and placed in another pocket.
Key issues related to this case
1. Third-party involvement and the role of William Kennedy
Henry's family rejected the theory of an accident. Suspicion was directed at William Kennedy, among other things, due to his falsely reporting the passenger's drop-off location, retaining his car keys, and acting strangely after his disappearance. Kennedy attributed the discrepancies in his statements to a topographical error, submitted to a polygraph examination, and was never charged. Surveillance footage also showed that Henry exited the vehicle on his own.
2. Controversy surrounding the search and the David Singleton case
Outsiders emerged around the investigation, sparking additional controversy. Karine McCabe initially hired self-appointed investigator Gregory Evans, who then began publicly making baseless accusations against her.
Further controversy arose over David Singleton, head of Minnesota Community Policing Services, which coordinated the initial search. At one point, Singleton withdrew the reward and released private recordings of conversations with the missing man's wife to the media.
In January 2025, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit against Singleton, alleging that he created sham foundations to fraudulently obtain funds. In March 2025, the court issued a lifetime ban on Singleton from operating non-governmental organizations and ordered him to repay the illicitly obtained funds.
3. Phone activity after the man's disappearance
An analysis of phone records revealed that Henry's cell phone made 24 calls to a Texas number on the day he disappeared. Outgoing calls were also recorded on September 9th and 10th (two and three days after his disappearance) to Elizabeth Bledsoe, a woman with whom Henry had a private relationship. This issue was not clearly addressed in the official report.
4. The Accident Hypothesis
Investigators have accepted the possibility of an accident. A pedestrian path leads from the gas station where Henry got off toward Rush Lake. The disoriented and intoxicated man, traveling through the marshy terrain at night, may have fallen into the water.
Regarding the recorded sounds, experts suggested that severe alcohol intoxication, hypothermia, or a panic attack could have led to breathing problems, hyperventilation, and even choking. The removal of the phone battery, in turn, has been attributed to paranoid behavior caused by disorientation and stress.
Henry McCabe's death was formally ruled an accident, and the investigation was closed. However, the case still raises questions about missing personal items, a phone with a missing battery, and subsequent activity on his number.
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