A CRACK crew of scuba-diving sleuths has solved a staggering seven chilly instances in simply two months, bringing much-needed closure to heartbroken households who had been left with out solutions for years.
The group, often called Chaos Divers, operates out of Southern Illinois and is comprised of divers Jacob Grubbs and Eric Bussick, and head of logistics Lindsey Bussick.
Between October and December of final 12 months, the trio managed to unravel seven lacking individuals instances in a variety of completely different states, together with in Illinois, Oregon, Kentucky, and Texas.
Their most up-to-date discovery got here on December 5 when the group discovered the stays of Jeff Anthony Shepherd in a pickup truck submerged in Strunk, KY, pond.
Shepherd had been lacking for greater than three years, having final been seen leaving a bar in Winfield on March 18, 2018. He had referred to as his mom letting her know he was on his approach residence however by no means made it again.
In an unique interview with The Solar, Jacob Grubbs, 33, revealed that he, Eric, and Lindsey by no means anticipated changing into impartial chilly case investigators however have been impressed to take action following an opportunity discovery made by a buddy in 2019.
Jacob, a eager fisherman, began scuba diving a number of years in the past so he might assist to wash trash out of river programs, lakes, and native swimming holes.
Whereas doing so, the previous coal miner mentioned he began discovering all types of things - from discarded iPhones to misplaced wallets - and determined to arrange a YouTube web page to doc his fascinating discoveries.
"I used to observe quite a lot of movies about it on Youtube and I actually thought they have been pretend till I began doing it, after which I used to be like, ‘wow!’," Jacob advised The Solar.
SCUBA SLUETHS
He rapidly amassed a big social media following on YouTube and befriended a variety of different divers importing related movies to him.
A kind of divers was Jared Leisek, who runs the YouTube web page Adventures with Goal.
Leisek made headlines in December 2019 when he occurred throughout a automotive with a physique inside throughout a dive in Oregon and ended up by accident fixing a chilly case single-handedly.
Jacob drove as much as St. Louis to help Leisek with the dive the place they recovered the physique of Nathan Ashby from the Missouri River.
The 22-year-old had been lacking since July 31, 2019, when he vanished whereas driving his 1994 Chevy Silverado to work round 6.45am.
After the unimaginable discovery was made, Jacob mentioned he felt "compelled" to proceed investigating chilly instances within the Southern Illinois space.
Households trying to find lacking family members then began reaching out to him immediately, and he determined to take the enterprise up as his full-time job.
"Within the final two months, we have introduced seven individuals residence by ourselves," Jacob advised The Solar in late December.
And through a street journey with Adventures With Goal and different teams within the fall, Chaos Divers helped to unravel an extra 16 instances in 45 days.
"I am nonetheless in awe of with the ability to assist so many households in such a short while," he mentioned.
"It has been an incredible feeling, notably after we have been capable of remedy a case after 23 years in October."
SAMANTHA HOPPER & COURTNEY HOLT
Throughout their street journey with Adventures With Goal (AWP) again in October, Chaos Divers helped to unravel the disappearance of 20-year-old Samantha Jean Hopper, who vanished along with her one-year-old daughter Courtney Esther Danielle Holt on the evening of September 11, 1998.
In keeping with police, Hopper, who was eight months pregnant on the time, had plans to drop off her daughter with a member of the family earlier than heading to a live performance in Little Rock in her blue Ford Tempo.
Nonetheless, she by no means made it to both location, and neither Hopper nor Courtney was seen ever alive once more.
Hopper additionally left behind one other daughter, Dezarea Carpenter, who's now an grownup and lives in Florida.
Chaos Divers and AWP met with Dezarea, together with Hopper's mom and finest buddy to study extra about her and her final identified whereabouts.
Working from clues about Samantha’s habits and the occasions of that day in 1998, the 2 dive groups cut up as much as scan a number of areas within the space of Lake Dardanelle.
Divers with AWP took a route alongside Mill Creek, whereas Jacob and the remainder of Chaos Divers searched the Illinois Bayou close to Nice View Highway.
Round an hour into the search, Chaos Divers made a discovery within the Illinois Bayou after selecting up pictures of a small, overturned automotive eight ft under the floor of the water on a sonar scanner.
After coming into the water, Choas Divers matched the automobile to Hopper's blue Tempo. Human stays have been additionally discovered inside.
Hooper's relations have been current on the scene when the automotive was lifted from the water.
Weeks later, investigators with the Arkansas State Crime Lab in Little Rock positively recognized the stays as Hopper and Courtney's.
Jacob described the invention as a bittersweet gut-punch.
"That one hit me onerous," Jacob mentioned. "However I used to be glad to have the ability to convey her different daughter solutions as to the place her mom and sister had been for the final 23 years.
"I'm tremendous pleased with the crew and myself for with the ability to do this."
BITTERSWEET
Lindsey Bussick is in command of figuring out which instances Chaos Divers are capable of examine and people they don't seem to be.
Members of the family and buddies of lacking individuals frequently attain out to the group in search of their assist to discover a long-lost beloved one.
Police departments throughout the nation that in any other case lack the technological assets to conduct such searches additionally typically request their experience, she mentioned.
"We get as many particulars as we will, from the place they have been final seen, the place they have been headed and the situation of the final ping of their cellphone," Lindsey advised The Solar.
"From there, we sort of map out their final identified actions and establish any waterways they could have handed earlier than vanishing.
"If there are no waterways then we won't assist," she continued. "Every little thing we do relies off water. Additionally, if there is not a automobile concerned we additionally can not help, as a result of our sonar is ready as much as see vehicles or different autos beneath the water."
Whereas the group takes on as many instances as they'll, going out on the street nearly each week, Lindsay mentioned the work would not come with out its emotional challenges.
Such challenges usually come up within the wake of fixing a case, Lindsay mentioned, the place the crew's preliminary elation is sort of instantly displaced by emotions of disappointment for the topic's household.
"It's a heartbreaking second to must look somebody within the eye and say, 'We have discovered them. They're gone,'" she mentioned.
"However similtaneously these tears are rolling down their face you are watching this weight be lifted off of them, as a result of for the primary time and nonetheless many months, years, or many years, they know the place their beloved one is and so they do not must surprise anymore, they do not have to fret.
"So it is heartbreaking, however it's heartwarming on the identical time; it is very surreal since you simply gave them the worst information however on the identical time, they're simply so grateful that anyone did one thing for them."
Lindsey described the sensation of closing a case as a bittersweet "gut-wrenching sensation that you simply by no means wish to quit."
Jacob added: "It is also about serving to to place rumors to mattress.
"Very often with these instances, the time that has handed with out solutions permits rumors to fly, and earlier than you already know it, persons are providing up theories of a homicide or drug deal gone fallacious.
"However then surely, it was an accident. And now the household has solutions, they've closure. They lastly know the place their beloved one is, and so we assist put these rumors to relaxation."
BRIAN GOFF & JONI DAVIS
One other household Chaos Divers helped to supply solutions have been family of Brian Goff and Joni Davis, who they discovered within the Ohio Valley in November 2021, three years after the couple vanished.
The group initially arrived within the area to go looking within the Hancock County space of the Ohio River for Karen Adams, who was final seen at a close-by on line casino on March 11, 2007.
They searched three completely different areas throughout three consecutive days for Karen however got here up empty-handed.
Whereas within the space, they bought a tip from one other diver group concerning the case of Goff and Davis, who pointed them to a physique of water in Jefferson County that had not but been searched.
"They advised us there was one spot that sort of bothered them concerning the case, which was round a mile south of the place Brian's cellphone final pinged.
"They weren't certain whether or not it had been searched, or how properly it had been searched, so we determined to go there to sort of alleviate any doubt over whether or not they may be there or not."
Joni Davis, 56, and her longtime boyfriend and caregiver, 65-year-old Brian Goff, disappeared in June 2018.
At aged 35, Joni suffered an enormous seizure in her sleep and was hospitalized in a coma for a number of months. Whereas she finally re-learned the right way to stroll, converse and feed herself, Joni was left completely mind broken and required full-time care.
"They have been extraordinarily meticulous of their each day routine: they ate on the identical locations on the identical days, went to the identical gasoline station to replenish their tank - all the things was laid out and arranged for them, sort of like OCD," Jacob mentioned.
"So once they went lacking, nearly immediately alarm bells began going off for everybody who knew them."
Brian's automotive was final sighted by a gasoline station surveillance digital camera heading north in Belmont County, not lengthy after the couple had dined at an area Pizza Hut - as they at all times did on Sundays.
The final ping from Goff’s cellphone was in neighboring Jefferson County. After that, all traces of the couple ceased.
Chaos Divers retraced the couple's steps within the early morning hours of November 11. They have been driving previous Rushman Highway, close to the place the couple's cellphone final registered, which runs adjoining to the Ohio River.
"We have been driving that path after we seen this one spot, a gap by the water that did not have a guardrail in entrance of it, nor any weeds or reeds or something like that," Jacob mentioned.
"There was simply this one little tree there, and for some cause that stood out in my thoughts. It was nearly like a lightweight was shining down on it."
'LOTS OF TEARS'
Jacob placed on his dive gear and entered the water at 3am. Inside minutes, he'd discovered a lightweight blue Oldsmobile 88 in a shallow portion of the river.
The license plate of the automotive matched one registered to Brian.
Contained in the automobile, police later discovered two units of human stays strapped into the entrance seats. They have been confirmed to belong to Brian and Joni.
Whereas it stays unclear whether or not the couple entered the river by accident or deliberately, Jacob and Lindsay say their family have been simply grateful to know the place they have been.
"We met with Johnny's sister, and brother in legislation and brother in legislation after which three members of Brian's household, and so they have been heartbroken," Lindsey mentioned. "However on the identical time, so extremely grateful."
"There have been a number of hugs and tears," she added. "They simply wished us to understand how appreciative we have been that we have been capable of convey them residence."
Choas Divers say they intend to proceed working year-round to assist remedy different chilly instances in and round Illinois.
As they did final fall, they intend to set out on the street later this 12 months with Adventures with Goal to unravel extra instances in fast succession.
The crew don't cost households for his or her restoration efforts and fund their journeys completely from income generated from the social media pages, impartial donations, and merchandise gross sales on their web site.
To donate to Chaos Divers click on right here.
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