By JUSTIN HIGGINBOTTOM/Jefferson Public Radio
Early on May 1, Camille McGee’s car plunged into the Trinity River in northern California. McGee and her partner, Michael Cox, escaped from the vehicle and made it to shore. But their 9-month-old son, Oliver, was swept away by the current.
Trinity County Search and Rescue searched for days. Then Juan Heredia heard about the case. By day, he’s a mortgage broker in Stockton. In his free time, he helps families like Oliver’s.
“First of all, I don’t search for bodies,” Heredia said. “I search for sons or daughters.”
When Heredia arrived at the Trinity River, he said search and rescue refused to let him dive, saying the water was too dangerous.
But he stayed in contact with Oliver’s family. And after the county search team left, he returned.
“‘They were mean to me,’” Heredia said he told the family about the sheriff’s department. “‘But I’m going to come for you.’”
Before he dives, he said he asks for a picture of the person he’s looking for. He keeps that image in his head as he goes underwater.
Only a few hours after entering the river’s rushing water, he saw Oliver’s leg.
For Heredia, finding Oliver is something he’s trained his whole life for. Growing up in Argentina, he fished with his father and often dove in when their hook was caught.
“I was able to jump in the water with no mask, no fin, no nothing, and just swim down the river and take the hook out so we can keep fishing,” he said.
In March, Heredia drove to Lincoln County to help in the search for 2-year-old Dane Paulsen, who had disappeared into the Siletz River while playing in his family’s yard nearby.
The toddler had been the subject of a massive land and river search for 11 days after his disappearance March 1. Heredia found the boy’s body three miles downstream from the family’s house after two hours. An autopsy later determined he had drowned.
Recovered dozen bodies
Heredia, 53, has also worked as a dive instructor. He began going on rescue operations last summer for families near his home in central California. Soon, people started recognizing his name.
“All the social media blew up,” Heredia said. “Everybody started tagging me for any person anywhere in the world.”
He founded the nonprofit Angels Recovery Dive Team in 2024. A little over a year later, he’s recovered over a dozen bodies.
But the Trinity River wasn’t the only place where authorities refused his help.
This summer, three rafters were swept over Dillon Falls on the Deschutes River. The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office recovered two of the bodies. But they couldn’t find the third.
So Heredia showed up, thinking it was just the job for him. Authorities disagreed.
Heredia posted a video describing the interaction to his nearly 100,000 Facebook followers.
“If I dive, if I jump in the water, they’re going to arrest me,” he said.
The sheriff’s page soon received more than 1,000 comments urging the department to let Heredia dive.
“It’s been completely blown out of proportion,” said Jason Carr with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. “It’s just a misunderstanding from the general public about how these operations work.”
Carr said areas where search and rescue teams operate are treated like crime scenes. There are considerations for evidence, and it’s important for people not to interfere while officers work. The department also doesn’t want to be held liable if an unvetted volunteer is injured while searching, Carr said. And besides, the department has its own highly trained team.
“This is a professional group of volunteers,” Carr said. “This isn’t just your neighbor down the road who decides they want to go help out.”
Heredia stood down at the Deschutes River and drove back the seven hours to Sacramento. Since then, he’s changed his approach. He won’t attempt a dive while county search and rescue is working unless authorities give him permission.
“This can mean diving early in the morning before they begin their search, or later in the afternoon when they retreat,” according to a post on Heredia’s Facebook page.
But for Heredia, the hardest part of this work isn’t necessarily failed attempts like the trip to the Deschutes River — it’s what comes after success.
“Many nights after I found the son or daughter, that’s the hard part,” he said.
On the Trinity River, he waited with Oliver until a family member showed up.
“He was just a beautiful baby in my arms,” he said. “I didn’t want to let … go until somebody opened their arms for the baby.”
It’s not just sheriff’s departments worried about his safety. Heredia has a wife and two children who worry they could lose him. But he said they’ve decided he can’t turn his back on a calling.
So he keeps driving towards lakes and rivers, hoping someone wants his help.
- Justin Higginbottom is a reporter with Jefferson Public Radio. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
As remarkable a person as we have in the country. Shame on these law enforcement people who stop this hero. God bless him
No. You are wrong. Deschutes County Sheriff has a highly trained underwater team and the fast water is a very dangerous stretch of river. No smart manager would ever allow anyone other than certified teams who train together to be involved. The risk to trained divers from someone they know nothing about is serious along with the risk to taxpayers if something happens. That takes nothing away from his generous offer.