STRUNK, Ky. — The McCreary County Coroner's Office announced on Dec. 5 that a dive team found a pickup truck belonging to a missing man.
Jeff Anthony Shepherd, who was first reported missing on March 14, 2018, is the owner of the truck. The truck was found in a pond just off of U.S. Hwy. 27 in Strunk, KY, according to the coroner's office.
Human remains were discovered inside the pickup when it was removed from the pond, the coroner's office said.
The remains have been sent to the Kentucky State Medical Examiner's Office for autopsy and identification, according to the coroner's office.
The coroner's office is thanking the Illinois-based "Chaos Divers" — a dive team that searches for vehicles tied to cold cases.
Chaos Diver Jacob Grubbs said this is the seventh missing person's case they have been a part of.
"We are out there to help the families," he said.
This group of certified divers is from southern Illinois. They said they originally set out to clean up the environment. It wasn't long until they started finding clues to missing people in the waters.
"We decided 'Hey, let's try to help these families out and see if we can help them out by doing stuff that the law enforcement doesn't have the capabilities of doing,’" Grubbs said.
Like providing the resources to conduct a dive team search for someone who has been missing for years.
"We've brought seven people home so far," he said.
Using sonar technology, the Chaos Divers are able to locate sunken vehicles from the water's surface.
"The sonar will basically paint a picture. In the past five years sonar technology has came a long way," Grubbs said.
Their most recent search for Jeff Shepherd brought them to the Tennessee-Kentucky state line Chaos group member Lindsay Bussick said.
"We had searched all of the areas at the time that we thought we're plausible. We ended up moving to the next case in the next city,” Bussick said.
Until one of Shepherd's friends asked the Chaos Divers to come back.
"We made the decision to come back yesterday, searched that rock quarry and he was right there," Bussick said.
The McCreary County Coroner's Office says the divers located a pickup truck in a pond just off of US Highway 27 in Strunk, Kentucky, belonging to Shepherd.
"While it is heartbreaking, it's also this gratification because you are literally watching this weight lift off of their heart, and for the first time in so long, they get to know where their loved one is at," Bussick said.
Kentucky State Police said the death has been ruled as accidental.