Diver Finds GoPro Containing Man’s Last Moments, Gives Family Closure
A treasure-hunting diver recently came upon a lost GoPro camera at the bottom of a waterfall. It turns out it was lost two years ago by a man who drowned there, and the SD card is now providing the victim’s family with closure.
The SD card inside the camera was working, and after reviewing the footage, Aloha realized that the camera belonged to a man who had drowned at the swimming hole two years ago (something park rangers had told him about).
After Richard Ragland died just days before his 23rd birthday in 2017, his family began searching for answers about his last day and moments. They received a package from park rangers that was supposed to contain footage of Ragland captured by someone else, but someone had apparently stolen the flash drive, WSB-TV reports.
When Aloha found that the SD card contained Ragland’s last moments, he started searching for a way to contact Ragland’s family. Through doing Google searches, he found a phone number, got in touch, and met up with Ragland’s parents last week to return the card to them in person.
“What we’ve seen so far is Rich being Rich, living life to the fullest,” Ragland’s mother, Robin, tells WSB-TV. “For him to go through his efforts to do his research, make numerous phone calls, he didn’t give up until he got in touch with us and that means the world to us.”
The couple hasn’t yet watched the final footage captured by the camera, but they hope that when they do, the video can provide them with more answers and closure about their son’s life and death.
