Beneath the blue waters

Chris Hansen Correspondent • Profile

What secrets lie beneath the icy surface of Lake Huron? Did something sinister happen there?  Do the chilly waters hold the elusive clues to a mysterious disappearance, a death, and a family’s desperate quest to unravel it all?

It was tragedy that revolves around a vibrant young beauty in the prime of her life. There was just something about Lana Stempien: The tall blonde started modeling after high school, and spent six years traveling the country as an auto show model. But Lana always had high ambitions: She went on to become the first lawyer in her family, with a successful career as an attorney for the city of Detroit.

“She had a real effervescent personality,” says Andrew Jarvis, Lana Stempien’s co-worker. “You wouldn’t forget her, that’s for sure.”

“People were drawn to her,” says Tammy Swanson, Lana’s cousin.

Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent: How did men react when she’d walk into a place?

Tammy Swanson, Lana’s cousin: Oh, they’d fall all over her. I don’t think she ever paid for a drink when we had gone out.

Still, Tammy Swanson, Lana’s first cousin and one of her best friends, says Lana’s charm wasn’t really about beauty or brains— it had more to do with her radiant, free spirit, one that frequently caused her to unabashedly burst into song.

At 35 years old, Lana still seemed to be having too much fun to settle down, but two years ago when she started dating Chuck Rutherford, there were signs that might change. Rutherford was a 34-year-old attorney who’d worked at the Detroit prosecutor’s office. He was the son of a prominent Michigan lawyer. He’d started his own law practice, and Lana often helped her boyfriend with his cases.

Swanson: We figured one day they’d have their own law practice together.

After dating for a year, the two moved in together, sharing a modest suburban house.

Hansen: Was he a pleasant fellow to be around?

Swanson: Yeah, he was nice. Quiet, but nice.

Though Chuck seemed different than Lana’s previous boyfriends— less athletic and more introverted, even casual observers like Dick Bell, who owns Jacoby’s, a favorite after work haunt of Lana’s, could see he was smitten.

Dick Bell, restaurant owner: He was fawning all over her and very attentive. It was kind of close that way.

Pat Koczara, Lana’s aunt and godmother, remembers an especially tender moment at her daughter’s wedding in Bermuda.

Pat Koczara, Lana Stempien’s godmother: All of a sudden, he came up to me and he said, “I really love your niece.”  And I just thought that was so sweet, because I just met him.

Courtesy of Stempien family Lana Stempien

And Lana’s family says if Chuck loved Lana, that meant he had to love boating as well. Lana, the daughter of a former U.S. Coast Guard officer, grew up with boats and, four years ago, purchased a 27-foot Wellcraft cabin cruiser she named “Sea’s Life.”

Hansen: How important was the “Sea’s Life” to her?

Swanson: Very, very important.

Lana’s family says Chuck was so taken with Lana that though he wasn’t a boater himself, he happily indulged his girlfriend’s love of the water. During their romance, the two spent almost every weekend on Lana’s boat, and Chuck was even learning to drive it. And last August, the couple decided to take a vacation together on Lake Huron. It was a boating trip Lana had been planning all summer.

On Wednesday August 10^th,  Lana launched her boat from her parent’s house in Belle River, Canada, just across from Detroit, something the experienced skipper had done hundreds of times before. She and Chuck were heading to Mackinac Island, a summer destination in northern Michigan. But what started as a fun adventure would soon turn into a mystery, an investigation, and a list of unanswered questions.

The two-day trip was to take Lana and Chuck up the St. Claire River and into the vast waters of Lake Huron. From there, they would pass Michigan’s thumb area, then stick close to the state’s eastern shore all the way up to the straits of Mackinac.

Hansen: When it came to making sure the conditions were appropriate for boating, how was she?

Swanson: A fanatic. She wouldn’t take risks with that boat.

Because the forecast predicted some rain that weekend, Lana’s family says she was in a hurry to leave Wednesday morning, eager to get a head start on any bad weather.  Before saying goodbye, she and Chuck promised Lana’s parents they’d call every night so they wouldn’t worry.

And when she checked in that first evening, Lana told them they’d already made it much farther than she’d expected. The couple had pulled into a marina in Oscoda, looking for a place to tie up for the night, and some decent food.

Dateline The route the couple was supposed to take.

Richard Bannon, met the couple at a dock: They were tired. He was hungry. He was tired of eating rice cakes.

Richard Bannon, who’s boat was in the slip right next to Lana’s, offered to drive the couple to the nearby Au Sable Inn, where he and his wife joined them for dinner and drinks.

Bannon: They seemed happy together. I just felt they were very much together.

After a fun evening laughing over cocktails, the couples retired to their boats.

Bannon says Lana and Chuck were up by 7 a.m. Thursday, wanting to get an early start as they headed back out onto Lake Huron.

At 12:30 the couple stopped in Presque Isle, where Gene Austin gassed them up.  They joked about who should pay the bill and before pulling out, Lana asked about any trouble spots.

Gene Austin, gas station worker: They told us that they were going to Mackinac island for the weekend, and she asked me if there was any shallow water.

But Austin says Lana, the ever safety-conscious boater, already had the two shallow areas he told her to avoid programmed into her GPS. And as he watched “Sea’s Life” pull out, he never imagined he’d be one of the last people to see the smiling skipper alive.

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