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Adventures with Purpose
Nonprofit cold case investigators From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Adventures with Purpose is an American group of professional scuba divers who use underwater sonar imaging equipment and bathymetry mapping technology to locate missing persons and their vehicles in waterbodies. Originally focused on clean-up, their channel's focus was turned to missing persons cold cases after their accidental discovery of a missing person. The group documents their efforts on their YouTube channel.
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Background
Adventures with Purpose (AWP) was founded in Oregon in 2018 by Jared Leisek, who collected trash from rivers and lakes.[a][3][4] Doug Bishop, a diver and manager of a towing company, soon joined Leisek to assist in vehicle removal.[5] The group began as an environmental cleanup agency, removing cars that were polluting waterways.[6][7] After twice finding cars with missing people in them, they determined a need to look for people who had gone missing in or with their vehicles.[8]
The channel receives tip-offs and requests from the public through their social media accounts.[3] They do not pursue rewards from family or charge the families or police involved, but will not reject rewards if given.[9] AWP funds its searches through video views, subscribers, donations, and merchandise sales.[7]
On May 12, 2022, Leisek registered a new company, Underwater Investigations LLC, which now holds the rights to Adventures with Purpose.[10]
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Search process
At the identified waterbody,[11] the team traverse the waters in small inflatable boats, scanning the bottom of the waterbody using sonar. Upon identifying areas of interest, they circle the area for further identification on their sonar displays before using a heavy-duty magnet to attach their line to the sunken vehicle. They mark the location with a buoy and then use divers to make a visual identification of the vehicle, retrieve a license plate, search for bodies, and prepare the vehicle and its contents for retrieval by police.[12]
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Legal issues
In 2020, AWP threatened to sue for a $100,000 reward pledged by five anonymous donors for the discovery of Ethan Kazmerzak, who had disappeared in 2013.[13] The Kazmerzak family donated an undisclosed amount.[7]
In October 2022, the team had six members.[8] The following month, Leisek was accused of raping a 9-year-old female relative at age 16–17 in Utah in 1992. Several team members, including Bishop, diver Nick Rinn,[14] and lead videographer Joshua Cantu[15] subsequently left the team.[16][17] On January 5, 2023, Leisek was charged in Sanpete County, Utah.[18][19] Adventures with Purpose subsequently announced that they were on a 3-month tour with a new team of divers and filmmakers.[20]
On December 13, 2024, Underwater Investigations LLC filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Cantu. Cantu alleged that the lawsuit stems from his posting behind-the-scenes videos of Adventures with Purpose before the formation of Underwater Investigations LLC. The case remains pending.[21][22]
Cases
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Perspective
The team usually deals with cold cases,[23] but they have also volunteered for searches in recent cases.[24] Certain recent cases may be incidental while searching the waterbody for a cold case.[25] As of February 2025, the group has solved 35 missing person cases. (The chart below counts mother Samantha Hopper and daughter Courtney Holt as one case.)[25] AWP also sometimes cooperates with other teams with the same purpose, such as Exploring with Nug, Chaos Divers and Sunshine State Sonar.[26][27]
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Footnotes
References
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