Diver on a One-Man Mission To Find Woman Who Drove Into River

A solo diver who uses his scuba skills to search for missing people is on a mission to find a woman who drove into a California river earlier this year.
Juan Heredia, a private scuba instructor based in Stockton, California, traveled six hours to the Kern River to search for Christina Murphy, who drove into the river on July 22. Although Murphy’s car was recovered by the Kern County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO), her body was never found.
Now Heredia, who is not affiliated with local law enforcement, is heading to the river to see if he can help.
The KCSO has been contacted via email outside of working hours for comment.
Heredia is keeping his followers and the community posted on his search via his Instagram page. Eight hours ago, he provided an update on his first dive to search for Murphy, saying: “Today was very cold, and was dark. I was diving around … the maximum depth was around 7 feet.
“Unfortunately, I saw a few caves … a lot of rocks … I had a lot of hope that Christina was there, and I was looking inside a cave and couldn’t find her.”
Heredia said that he is planning on coming back today after speaking with a woman who is working with the coroner’s office, who said she has some ideas about where Christina may be.
He will be swimming from the bridge where the KCSO found Murphy’s car all the way to the river dam.
Heredia told his followers he will also return on Friday, adding that the water is freezing at the moment but that he was able to dive for about an hour in the cold temperatures.
This is not Heredia’s first dive to find a body in a river; in fact, this will be his seventh mission to find a missing person. He told CBS in May that he does these dives to provide closure to families who have lost loved ones.
Heredia began these rescue missions in March after being called to find the body of 15-year-old Xavier Martinez, who went missing in Calaveras River, near his high school.
Posting on his Facebook in October, Heredia said: “Xavier changed my life forever, he gave me a new purpose, Dive for Others, dive for families that are waiting for their loved ones to be found in the waters … when [other diving instructors] asked me if I was diving lately, I told them where and for what, their response … no way, I can’t do that, you have to get paid big money to do that … No, I’m a volunteer!”
Originally from Argentina, Heredia is a real estate agent from nine to five and practices scuba diving on the side. He has been certified as a diver for 28 years and told CBS he does not want his skills to go to waste when they could be useful to others.
Although Heredia has been offered rewards in the past, he did not accept them, saying that he only does his dives to bring closure to families who have lost a loved one and that if he is called to rescue someone then he answers that call.
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