When A Teen Dove Into A Lake With His GoPro, What He Found Unraveled A 27 Year Old Mystery

when a team dove into a lake with his gopro what he found unraveled a 27 year old mystery at a remote lake in british columbia canada a boat glides through the murky waters on board thirteen-year-old max walrenka is guiding the authorities to an ominous spot but when the officials can't see what lies beneath the surface that willrank has led them to the child bravely straps on his gopro camera and dives in the resulting footage later reveals something horrifying and it helps to solve a decades-old cold case the story started in august 2019 when warrenka was staying at griffin lake a popular holiday spot he'd visited on numerous occasions this time though things were a little different while out exploring you see the teenager noticed something strange glistening underneath the water and he thought it was an out-of-place object that had a distinctly man-made look in fact warenka had stumbled across a mystery resting around 20 feet beneath the surface of the water so how would this object ended up at the bottom of griffin lake what story might its twisted remains have to tell well with the teenager's help authorities later uncovered a gruesome secret and in the process they solved a case that had haunted one family for almost 30 years so who is this adventurous child well although just a teenager worrenka had a long history with this picturesque corner of canada his family in fact owns griffin lake cabins a small resort consisting of three holiday homes located in the wilderness between the cities of calgary and vancouver but while beautiful the spot is remote the nearest town revelstoke is some 16 miles to the east at griffin lake though tourists come to experience life away from the hustle and bustle of the cities while there for instance visitors can spend their days fishing and swimming in the cool water or hiking through the surrounding countryside and when the conditions are right they can also enjoy snowmobiling and sledding in nearby mountains for warrenka however an entirely different adventure unfolded almost every day with his parents the custodians of their own slice of paradise you see the teenager has plenty of time to explore the surroundings at griffin lake and perhaps unsurprisingly he soon developed a love of nature but like many children of the current generation warrenka is not content to merely observe instead warrenko began documenting his adventures around griffin lake in order to do so he turned to his trusty gopro hearty brand of video camera beloved by extreme sports fans around the world but what this teenager captured in august 2019 was a world away from the typical youtube fair at that time you see warenko was enjoying one of his many visits to the family's cabins on griffin lake and one sunny day he found himself in conversation with a family who were also staying at the small resort the visitors had apparently spotted something strange beneath the surface of the water and they subsequently asked the teenager to take a closer look ever curious wawrenka climbed aboard his paddleboard and pushed out into the lake and there he spawned the object in question some 20 feet below him you could see something almost like a shadow like an imprint he revealed to the washington post in september 2019 then you could see something shiny but what could it be fortunately warrenko was soon able to identify the mystery object bizarrely he realized he was looking down on an exhaust pipe watching the sun reflect off its metallic sides and even though the possibility perhaps seemed unlikely to warranka it dawned on the teenager that he was actually looking at the submerged wreck of an upside down car shocked at the discovery warrenka and other guests later looked online for an explanation and before long it seemed as if the mystery had been solved ten years previously you see a car had apparently been lost beneath the waters of griffin lake an internet search further revealed that four people had also been rescued from the terrifying situation so the residents of griffin lake cabins were satisfied that they identified the sunken vehicle they therefore let the incident slip from their minds at that point in time we just kind of assumed that this car had been remaining from that 2009 rescue the teen's mother nancy warrenka told the washington post we didn't call it in we didn't really think much of it all that would soon change though the following day in fact an officer from the royal canadian mounted police or rcmp arrived at griffin lake having traveled from revelstoke he was no doubt looking forward to a relaxing day enjoying a picnic with his loved ones but then the officer found himself immersed in a strange mystery according to nancy the conversation began casually at first we just mentioned to the officer that there was a vehicle in the lake and that we couldn't believe it wasn't retrieved from the original rescue she commented but the law man was seemingly convinced that the car from the 2009 accident had already been removed from the water the officer said to us well no actually i'm pretty sure that the vehicle was retrieved out of the lake so we need to investigate this further nancy explained and sure enough on august 21 2019 more officers arrived from the rcmp when they did warranka was ready to be their guide on the lake he knew so well we took the officers out in our boat showed them the area where it was warrenka told ctv news vancouver in september 2019 the water conditions were however poor at the time which meant that officers struggled to make out the submerged vehicle from their position on the surface and so the teenager resorted to drastic measures determined to get to the bottom of the mystery warrenka decided to get the officers the information they needed so grabbing his trusty gopro camera which was equipped with waterproof protection he dove down into the lake and beneath the murky surface warrenko was able to capture clear footage of the submerged car i recommended to the rcmp i had a gopro so i could use it to film underneath the water and get a better look of the car max said in a september 2019 interview with global news so i went and swam around and dove down and took a video of everything to show them with warrencus footage in hand the officers then were in no doubt that something strange lay at the bottom of griffin lake in fact the film which has since been released online clearly shows the underside of a vehicle the teenager perfectly captured its four wheels turned towards the sky too but who would the car once belong to and how it ended up there from the video it soon became clear that the vehicle had been at the bottom of the lake for a long time it was encased in a thick coating of mud after all and vegetation and marine life had begun to thrive in the rusted wreck it would however be another three days before investigators got to take a closer look so on august 24th the rcmp made yet another trip to griffin lake this time though they brought an experienced dive team along with them and their official underwater investigation soon revealed its first clue the car's registration plate the number then linked the submerged vehicle to the 27 year old case of a missing woman apparently the vehicle had belonged to janet ferriss a 69 year old woman who had gone missing back in the fall of 1992 and her case had never been solved for nearly three decades then her family had been left to wonder what happened to ferris would this discovery finally provide them with closure after all these years as investigators later hauled the honda accord to the surface warrenka looked on with interest he soon clocked that something was amiss though emerging from the water the vehicle did not show any signs that the driver had attempted to escape in fact all the doors and the windows were closed it was very shocking what renkon told the washington post we weren't expecting anything like this the story however was about to get even more gruesome because when investigators finally opened up the vehicle they discovered a body trapped inside the fate of the missing woman had finally been revealed according to ferris's family the 69 year old was not local to the area around griffin lake in fact she hailed from vancouver island some 400 miles to the east at the time she disappeared however bears have been driving across the country to alberta where she planned to attend a wedding but because ferris had been traveling alone her relatives did not immediately realize that something had gone wrong two weeks later we received a phone call from that family in alberta asking why she never came to the wedding aaron ferris hartley the granddaughter of the missing woman told global news in september 2019 so ferris's family eventually realized that she was missing and alerted the appropriate authorities however officials were unable to get to the bottom of her disappearance and after a while those left behind came up with their own theories to explain why a beloved mother and grandmother had never come home we kind of assumed that maybe ferris had gone off the road or fallen asleep or tried to avoid an accident or animal on the road george ferris the missing woman's son told cnbc news in september 2019 and although time passed the grandmother's loved ones still wondered about her final moments they naturally therefore struggled to put the past behind them it seemed like there was never an appropriate way to grieve because my grandmother was missing aaron who had only been 12 years old when ferris disappeared told global news yet despite that she cherished memories of the 69 year old a woman who enjoyed gardening and making people laugh i miss her aaron said she's a huge part of my life even though most of my life is spent without her george told ctv news vancouver that good memories helped him through the long years of not knowing what had happened to his mother as well after the first year you just carry on he explained you come to live with it however the family is grateful for warrinka's discovery and the opportunity to finally lay ferris to rest we are so grateful that this boy went with his gopro and found her aaron told global news this is a happy story in the end knowing her final resting place and that it was an accident walrenko himself has become quite the celebrity in fact winning a claim for his role in solving the cold case the teenager even earned the respect of the authorities along with an apparent job offer for the future the rcmp will probably be looking at this guy down the road for potential employment corporal thomas blackney said in a september 2019 interview with ctv news vancouver that was good detective work on his part investigators have meanwhile concluded that ferris most likely encountered difficulties while driving along griffin lake and that for some reason perhaps while swerving to avoid an animal she lost control of the honda accord eventually ending up in the water there'd been no damage to the front of the car suggesting that she did not crash the family now intends to have ferris's remains interred alongside those of her husband who had passed away before she'd disappeared but while they found closure at last marenka is still processing the full impact of his discovery i couldn't imagine that for many years not understanding what happened to a loved one he told ctv news vancouver bizarrely though it's believed that the previous owner of the cabins spent 17 years exploring the waters of griffin lake without stumbling upon the sunken car despite its proximity to the shore this was a whole string of coincidental events nancy told global news yet it isn't the only time that underwater footage has helped shed a light on an old mystery