Diver finds lost GoPro in lake with the shocking final moments of man who drowned
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: WSB-TV
A diver made an unexpected discovery that helped explain the final moments of a man who died years earlier.
Back in 2017, a 22 year-old drowned in a waterfall just before his 23rd birthday.
The victim was identified as Richard Ragland and following his passing, his family had been searching for closure.
He'd been with friends at Foster Falls State Park in Tennessee, US, when the fateful incident occurred.
Advert
The young man had gone swimming underneath the waterfall but never resurfaced.
Richard's mother, Robin McCrear, was left with questions about her son's final moments.
However, she wasn't able to get the answers she needed until the discovery of his GoPro.
Park rangers attempted to send Robin a thumb drive containing footage of Richard before his death but it seemed to have been stolen in transit.
"We miss him dearly with all of our hearts," Robin told WSB-TV at the time.
"He was an amazing young man. Full of love, full of energy."
Miraculously, two years after Richard's death, YouTuber and treasure hunter Rich Aloha (real name Rich Abernathy) found the 22-year-old's GoPro.
Rich had been searching the waterfall where Richard died and came across the camera.
He then asked park rangers about it and they explained about Richard's death in 2017.
As well as the camera itself, Richard's SD card was still inside with footage leading up to his final moments.
"I strongly believe that God led me to this GoPro because the only thing I saw was the end tip of the thumbscrew and everything else was just covered in muck," the YouTuber told WSB-TV in 2019.
When he watched the footage and realized it was Richard, he took it upon himself to try reach out to Richard's parents.
Rich spent hours online until finally coming across Robin's phone number and called her to say he wanted to return the camera and card to her.
As to what the footage contained, the bereaved mother said it was of 'Rich being Rich, living life to the fullest'.
She went on to say that that the efforts Rich went to to contact them 'means the world to us'.
Elsewhere, Rich added to The New York Times: "It means so much that I could bring something totally invaluable and priceless to them."
To date, Rich's 2019 video of the moment he discovered Richard's GoPro has amassed 81,000 views on YouTube.
In the comments section of the clip, Rich was widely praised for getting in touch with Richard's parents to give them the footage.