By Ashley Silver
Police1
PITTSBURGH — A body tied to a recent missing person’s case unsurfaced recently with the help of officers and two underwater sonar dive teams in Pittsburgh.
According to WPIX News, Adventures With Purpose and Chaos Divers were in the area helping with two unrelated cold cases – 70-year-old Janet Walsh from 2020 and 78-year-old Bunnie Lee from 2013 – when they made a shocking discovery.
As they dived into the Allegheny River in hopes of locating these two missing persons, they stumbled upon another body within a submerged red Sedan. With assistance from the Pittsburgh police river rescue team and fire crews, the sonar teams hauled the car from the river. The body was later identified as 54-year-old Tod Diminno, according to a report from WTAE News.
“The biggest thing out of this all is there is a family that now has answers,” Doug Bishop of Adventures With Purpose said.
WPIX reported the vehicle was about 16 feet deep and 30 feet from the shore.
“We’re just really thankful to these guys for notifying police right away and river rescue…a sad outcome, but at the end of the day, everyone worked really well together,” Cara Cruz, Pittsburgh Public Safety PIO, told the media outlet.
Bishop told WPIX this is the 26th case they’ve been able to help law enforcement solve within two years.
Adventures With Purpose is an Oregon-based, dive team that offers law enforcement and family members of the missing free diving services to help bring closure to cold cases. The 10-member group consists of divers and production crewmembers who post videos of the search and recuses on YouTube. The team is funded through donations. The Chaos Divers team, led by diver Jacob Grubbs, works closely with Adventures With Purpose on search and rescues.
“For us to become a resource for law enforcement is amazing. The support that we have behind us for this whole ordeal allows us to help the families and law enforcement for free,” Grubbs told WPIX.