Divers locating 24 year old Jacob VanZant inside of his car in a slough in rural Stockton.
– All right and there’s what we’re looking for right there. Holy sh- Are you kidding me?
Look at, is that what I think it is? I mean, I don’t wanna say that it is, but is that somebody trying to escape
and they’re stuck there? – It is 100% the way that we thought.
Jacob’s car, that is Jacob. All of the windows are up and Jacob was doing everything he could to escape.
– [Joanna] Hello. – Joanna. – [Joanna] Hi Jared. – Hi. I have your son.
25 cars yesterday and right there at that pillar, at the very end of the day,
I was hopeful that we would’ve found Jacob VanZant. I wanna kind of bring you back into this story
of a 24 year old who went missing on his way home, taking sushi from the restaurant
to his girlfriend down in Stockton. Yesterday we met up with his mother, Joanna, his grandmother, Betty and several family friends
in hopes of finding Jacob. We started at a bridge just east of here, which was the very last cell phone ping
that we had for Jacob. We didn’t find any vehicles in the water. We came down with our second intent
of being at this ferry crossing because if you look at this road right here, if you’re flying up at doing 80, 90 miles an hour
and you hit the top of it here, there’s nothing stopping you before you make it into the water.
We didn’t have any parking yet as we were still getting to know the area yesterday. So we made our way down the levy here
and it’s a half a mile or so down and at that pump station, it’s a 90 degree turn. We put in the water.
We found 15 vehicles in that one location down there by the pump house.
We ended up diving on four of those 15 vehicles. Unfortunately, none of them were the vehicle
we’re looking for. While it was a little disappointing, we left the area and we continued our scan up
from the pump house to the ferry crossing right here. And along the way, we found three more vehicles. But when we got up here to the ferry crossing,
this is the one and only location that the locals thought that we might find
three or four vehicles in the area. They didn’t know about these other 18 that we’ve already found up up to this point.
So when we come up here we find over here on the right hand side, between those two pillars,
we find a car and we can identify it on sonar that its a four door car. It’s not a Honda Pilot, not a crossover.
We find another one just past the other pillar over there. Same thing, another four door car.
We have a vehicle out here, kind of a halfway to where the ferry’s gonna be coming across.
We don’t yet know what that one is, but here we are near the end of the day as I find two more cars over by the dock
and I find the one that looks like Jacob’s vehicle. It looks like a Honda Pilot.
It’s up against those three pylons. You can tell that the front of it has been just completely destroyed, given me the indication
that the vehicle came flying up this eight mile road, hit the water at such force that it completely crunched it
and you can see that on sonar and then it’s leaning up against the pillar and it’s not buried in silt.
Suit up, I drop onto it. We’re looking for a white Honda pilot. I drop on this vehicle and it’s white.
My heart starts racing and I brush off around the center hubcap
and I think that I see the word Honda but after the dust settles a little bit, it is not a Honda,
it is a Dodge, found out that it is a Dodge Journey. Right now I have two vehicles of interest.
We wanna get back out there on the water this morning and see if one of those happens to be Jacob’s.
And with any success, we’re gonna do everything we can to bring Jacob home and give his family
the answers they’re looking for today. (gentle music)
– [Announcer] For families who have all but given up on finding their loved ones, this team is a last hope.
To a new phenomenon, civilian divers cracking cold cases for free.
– [Reporter] DUI deaths are on the rise across the country. The National Transportation Safety Administration
says drunk driving deaths went up more than 14% between 2019 and 2020.
(gentle music)
– So we can get the sonar going again here. Give you guys a little sonar overview in a few moments.
The big thing I want to do is just quickly identify the five that we know about, that we’ve cleared
for the size and the shape. And we wanna focus on the one or two more out here that we have not yet been able to say
that is a car, that’s a truck, that’s a crossover. We want to be able to identify that and then make a decision
if we’re going to dive on those ones or not today.
The first thing I have over here is LiveScope. If a fish swims by or anything that’s happening in real time, I can see it in real time.
But right here, we know the car is here, so this is what live will look like
when I get right over the top of a car and I can, you know, turn my handle here
and kind of manipulate the picture a little bit. And as I spin around it, I can identify more of the size and the shape.
Now, when it comes to side imaging and down imaging, these are more of a picture in time. So as I scroll, as I go over the top of it
and I need to go back, I can scroll back and see what it is that I went over and identify it differently.
With those two vehicles and with the other three that we know of over here by the dock and the pillar,
we now want to go and re-put eyes on the other two that we didn’t have time for yesterday
to identify where they were. And I don’t know if this one over here is going to be a Jeep, I don’t know if it’s a crossover,
I don’t know if it’s a car. So we’re gonna figure that out in a moment. But what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna wait for the ferry to go by.
That way we have a lot more control and we’re not interrupting them and they’re not interrupting us.
Okay, right here is where I’ve got something here. So let’s go put ourselves right over the top of it.
Okay, so it’s gonna be right in line with the stop sign and that sign right there
is where it’s gonna be at and I’m gonna put this on live for us. That way we can get a really good reading of it.
Right now on sonar here it looks like it’s an older vehicle and so I don’t think is what we’re looking for
and it almost looks like a Jeep to me. And so that’s where LiveScope is now gonna come in, now that we’ve identified with sighting down where it’s at
now we really want to get some good accurate readings with live. And you see on the Garmin LiveScope that those are fish
that are swimming around at the 14 to 16 foot mark. All right and there’s what we’re looking for right there.
Oh, you see that? Okay. Is that a van or is that… That’s in the shape of a Honda Pilot, kinda sorta.
Almost looks like a Jeep though.
That’s a tough call on that one.
It’s not a car.
All right, we’re backing up to it right here. Just look at the height of it.
The height of it goes from the 18 to the 12 mark.
So that’s six feet tall.
Almost looks like a Jeep to me but not enough that I can rule it out
as to being a Honda pilot either but I don’t think it’s a car at all.
So I’m gonna take some different readings at 45’s and some 90’s and 180’s, using side and down
at an appropriate speed and see if we can get a better reading on it.
But in my opinion, it is not a car.
It is a SUV or a van, a small SUV.
Holy sh- Are you kidding me? Look at…
Is that what I think it is?
Is that, I mean, I don’t wanna say that it is, but is that somebody trying to escape
and they’re stuck there?
It’s the right size and shape. – And the scale too. – Yeah.
Oh yeah, look at that. Wow. That is the size and shape we’re looking for.
And then if I go here with my side imaging, right there.
Okay, we are right over the top of it right there. Okay, solid lock.
I think that there might be another vehicle out here too. So I wanna do a little more scanning just to make sure that we don’t need
to mark a second vehicle. Let me have a buoy. Okay, so that one, so one, two, three,
four, five, six.
So that accounts for everything that we have found in here then.
Plus the big dock and there’s that Dodge Journey on LiveScope right now that we’re going over right now.
That’s the one that we thought was Jacob’s vehicle yesterday. Look at the back there.
– Wow. What’s the plan for something like that when- – If there’s a body? – On the outside?
– Well, it’s a crime scene, so I will not touch it. It’s, it’s been there, it’s been secure
with the tides coming in and out. So if that’s the situation, then we will let PD know,
we’ll bring them out and then we’ll see if they want us to assist in the recovery or if they’re going to have a dive team at that point
to preserve and pull Jacob out if that’s the situation. Cuz anytime if windows are open or if there’s a chance
of being able to extract a body, like for instance, Todd Diminno. So Todd Diminno, they felt as though they had a chance
of extracting him from the vehicle but then upon trying to do so, they were not able to. So then they secured him inside
and then finished the recovery, so, – Okay. – every situation is gonna be different and if what it is that we think we’re seeing
it’s gonna be a completely new scenario that we never ran into before that’s going to have to make sure
that he’s secured properly. So I’m gonna suit up and we’re gonna figure that out right now. (intense music)
– [Female Reporter] Lodi Police say they’re actively investigating this missing person case, adding they’re considering the 24 year old at risk,
due to his health. Tamoosh says family and friends in Stockton and Lodi,
all the way to the Bay Area are searching for any sign of him.
Tamoosh says Friday night VanZant ordered dinner at Shangrila in downtown, Lodi.
Had plans to bring his girlfriend home dinner and to pick her up from work that night
but he never showed up.
He hasn’t been seen since, neither has his car.
– [Jared] All right, it’s a white car. Oh! There he is.
(somber music) Oh, sh***
All right, the front is partially destroyed. If you’re flying up at doing 80, 90 miles an hour
and you hit the top of it here, there’s nothing stopping you before you make it into the water.
(somber music)
No license plate on the front, it’s all smashed in.
All right, it’s a Honda. (somber music)
– [Reporter] The high school sweethearts there to comfort one another through tragedy. In September of 2021, Riate found out
she was going to be a mother. – That was our happiest little bits, Oh God.
– [Reporter] 37 weeks later she lost her daughter, Delilah.
– We had a stillborn. He always felt like he needed to take care of me. – Riate needs his care now more than ever.
– All right, where’s the license plate? All right, I don’t have the license plate.
Oh, I have it. Here it is. 5-J-B-C-3-1-1, we’ve found Jacob.
There it is.
It is 100% the way that we thought.
It’s Jacob’s car. That is Jacob. All of the windows are up
and Jacob was doing everything he could to escape. Almost made it.
– [Joanna] Hello? – Uh, Joanna. – [Joanna] Hi, Jared. – Hi. I have your son.
– [Joanna] You do? – Yes. – [Joanna] Okay. – So I have the Honda Pilot, I verified the license plate
and I also have a visual of your son. – [Joanna] Okay. – I know that you’re running late.
What would you like me to do? Do you want me to wait for you before I call PD? Do you want me to call PD now?
What would you like me to do? – [Joanna] I don’t know.
– Okay. – [Joanna] Can you gimme a minute? Just… – Yeah, yeah. – Do what you need to do.
– No, no, I’m, I’m doing for you. So I’m gonna hang up with you right now. You get with your family, make preparation.
I think it’s better if you show up, okay? – [Joanna] Okay. – But give me a call in five to 10 minutes
as soon as you make a decision, okay? – [Joanna] Okay. – All right, bye. – You said you found him?
– 100%, I’m sorry.
So this gentleman here, he’s on the phone at the moment, but he is uncle, I don’t know what relation,
but he’s an uncle to Jacob. His wife Deanna was out with us yesterday.
He owns the ranch down the road and he was kind enough to let us stay on another piece of property last night. So, incredible guy and we’ll catch him up in just a moment.
Good morning, sir. – Yeah, good morning, huh? – Yeah, well, I mean, good morning.
– Yeah. – Well, closure, right? – Yep, answers. – Yeah, answers.
– They say it’s never closure. Joanna is never closing anything on this one. – So where was the car? – Where the buoys at, over here.
So the vehicle hit the water at a high rate of speed blew the front of it apart and Jacob,
when he went in, this is a hundred percent an accident. This was not intentional. – It was an accident? – 100%. In my opinion at this time.
Yep, this is not intentional. – Just drunk?
– Yep. (somber music)
– You now know, okay? And from everything I’m seeing right now, 100% an accident.
– Okay. – Thank you for saying that. – No foul play, not intentional. – Okay.
– Based upon where I have found him, not intentional. Okay? – See? That make you feel better?
– Thank you. – [Jared] You’re welcome. We have chairs if you need a chair.
– She probably does. – Okay. And then we have sheriff’s office. – You’ve secured it like you wanted to do though?
– I have not because of the way that Jacob is right now. – Okay. – And so, given you just a little bit of detail.
– Okay. – Is that the front four windows are up. So the driver’s windows are up, passenger windows are up.
And he did, he was very, he was conscious as well. He was doing everything he could to escape.
– Oh God. – But this is where we have the information is that this is 100% an accent for you.
– Okay, stop. It was an accident. – Okay. Okay.
– Okay. And so, because of where he’s currently at
I am not hooking it up and touching anything until we have, if they want us to do it, okay,
we will secure him and bring him out before the vehicle. – Okay. – If they make any other decision
like we’re hooking it up or we’re dragging it out, 100% I will throw myself in front of them. – Okay. Okay.
– I will make sure they do not do that. – Okay. – I wish I had like perfect words I could give you
to just take the pain away, but you know it’s never going to be closure.
– No. I can’t imagine how long I would’ve gone without knowing what happened to him.
If you hadn’t come. – And some parents never do, you know, that’s-
– Oh, I hope he didn’t suffer too much.
You think he suffered? – He was in, I mean, it was a drowning is what it was, okay.
You know and with that and I know that you’ll do quite a bit of research on this afterwards as well,
you know, because a mom wants to know, you know if I had to choose the way that I’m going to go,
I would choose drowning over anything else. – Really? – [Jared] I would, personally with everything that I know.
– [Joanna] Okay. – [Jared] But he didn’t choose this either. So that’s something for you to know also. Okay?
– [Joanna] Yeah. – [Jared] I’m gonna leave you for a few minutes, okay?
– [Joanna] Okay. – [Jared} If you need anything else from us, just let us know. You know, Deanna left her car here. We’ve got the couch inside if you need it.
If you need to lay down, we also have some chairs set up in the shade on the other side of the trailer for you as well. Okay? – [Joanna] Okay. Thank you.
– [Jared] You’re welcome. – [Joanna] I appreciate it. – [Jared] You’re welcome.
He’s mostly out already. He’s already almost out. Yeah. Right, right now. Right now he’s stuck right here.
It’s a very easy extraction to bring Jacob out, okay? And then we’ll bring him over to shore,
and then after that, then it sounds like they would like to take the car out today, as well. And so we’ll work on it.
– You’re gonna remove his body first? – [Jared] Yes. Yep. So I’m gonna take care of him though, okay. – [Joanna] Okay. Yeah, I try to-
– [Jared] As long as they let me and it sounds like that’s the direction we’re going okay? – [Joanna] Okay.
– [Jared] All right. Once he’s up and out of the area then I’m going to work on rigging the vehicle and they’re gonna bring some tow trucks in
and we’ll extract the vehicle today as well, okay? – Is he in a state that I should not see him?
– No mother should see- – Okay. – at any stage okay? – Okay.
– So I’ll keep you posted in any way I can, okay?
– All right, So you’re gonna go out on that or you want us to give you a ride? – No, I’m just gonna swim out to it.
– You gonna swim out? – What I’m gonna do right now is I’m letting out enough line here that the buoy will be floating top side.
– Okay. – This one here is for precaution, just in case he slips from me as I’m pulling him out,
I’m going to secure this around underneath his arms before I start doing anything with him.
– Okay. That way from there, I will then work on extracting him
and then I will bring him top side for these boats to come in and then we’ll bag him from there.
– Okay. Does that work for you? – Works for me. And then as far as the tow?
– What’ll happen is as soon as they move from the area
then I’ll have Matt bring my tow lines out to me. I’ll get a pre-rig, floating with the buoy
and then when the tow truck gets here we’ll identify how much line they need and then they can pull from there.
In my opinion, at this point, because I know there’s a big ledge here, just a rollback
or a flatbed is going to have a hard time bumping into that, not gonna have to lift to pull it up and over,
so I would suggest a wrecker with a boom to get it up and over and then haul it from there.
(dramatic music)
– All right, good. Let me try to get this other arm out. You wanna try to zip him up?
Get this other arm in there? – Yeah, hold on. One, two, three, straight up.
Going, going. Bring him down nice and slow.
Watch his head.
You grab, I got one in just a little further. – Yep. – Watch his head.
Alright, good.
All good? – Yeah.
– My poor baby, don’t just…
– All right, I’m good.
– So right now I have both of the front wheels. I’m bringing you, tow away and then I have a main line.
I have double up on lines, so we’re not gonna break anything.
– Yeah. – All right, everybody stay clear of the line. Listen to Roger. He’s in control of the ramp.
Roger, you’re good to go.
So what we have right now is with Roger you pulling, no fault of your own.
That’s not gonna do us any good, Matt. The front of the car was completely destroyed
when it hit the water and so pretty much we have no bumper, no front end we just have the frame there.
We’re, we’re locked into both the front wheels with a wide bridal thing coming up
that Roger’s been pulling off of. What has happened now is that Roger pulling in
has pulled it because we didn’t have enough lift here, has pulled it not just to the ramp, but it’s wedged up underneath the ramp.
My plan was, I was gonna throw an airbag on here and just float it up. The issue is, is it’s locked in underneath of there now.
– They called an excavator on that, bring it out if you want ’em to lift it with the excavator
because the crane over there the guy described as a wall that it’s hitting probably.
– [Jared] Yeah. – So they were saying they could lift it and then pull forward. – Oh, that would be fantastic.
Yeah, because we, yeah. Cause we are attached here. So if we just pull it back a little bit and then he lifts it up, we don’t have to re rig anything.