Life and Death on the Loxahatchee

A real-life mystery thriller about a man who defied the onslaught of Florida development by carving out his own jungle habitat along a wild and scenic river.

The son of a Polish immigrant, Vince Nataulkiewicz would drop out of school, ride the rails out West and change his name Nelson when finally settling along Florida's most breathtaking jungle river. In the next four decades he'd become a man of many faces: trapper, hunter, alligator wrestler, zookeeper, celebrity host, snake charmer, woman charmer, voracious reader. Along the way, this real-life Tarzan would acquire over 1,100 acres that would one day form the heart of Florida's first Wild and Scenic River. On a steamy July in 1968, Vince"Trapper" Nelson was found ned of a shotgun blast in his jungle paradise. Many had a motive. So did Trapper himself.

Jim Snyder, an avid kayaker, settled along the Loxahatchee River in 1992 and soon found himself paddling up to Trapper Nelson's camp a few miles upstream. Snyder had just moved to Jupiter after after a career as Washington-based journalist and publisher. It would lead to an interest in preserving the river's history and unique ecology. And, of course, it would trigger a curiosity to learn more about the real-life "Tarzan" who was already the Legend of the Loxahatchee.