Helping Those Who Are Left Behind

Keith Cormican, South Lake Tahoe (Chron photo)

It's not your usual feel-good story because it's got grief, uncertainty, and death.

Keith Cormican recovers the bodies of drowning victims that law enforcement and other agencies cannot find and brings "solace for anguished families, and sometimes more."(In California, without a body, a person cannot be declared dead for five years, and some families face financial ruin without the life insurance proceeds.)

A stout Midwesterner with a round face, gray mustache and glacier blue eyes, Cormican is not part of a government agency — no badge, no uniform. The 61-year-old makes a living running a scuba diving shop in Wisconsin.

But he has devoted much of the past 25 years to his macabre avocation, towing his custom-outfitted search boat around the country and spending long days motoring across lakes in pursuit of those no one can find. Since 2013 he has investigated more than 125 cases and located 32 bodies. He has searched for victims of murder and suicide, but most often for people who died in accidental drownings, which occur on popular lakes like Tahoe every year.

Keith Cormican is expert at what he does and only charges for his expenses. (He earns fees for training others.) Grateful for his help, survivors can contribute to Bruce's Legacy, named after Keith's older brother, a fire fighter who himself died while trying to recover a drowning victim.

When the time comes for him to stand before the Pearly Gates and account for his life, Keith Cormican won't stumble for an answer like most of us. He'll go right in.