Beneath the blue waters

Friday, August 12^th was an ugly morning on the waters of northern Lake Huron and even in his 52-foot express cruiser, boater Tom Behan was struggling against the powerful winds and high waves. So he was shocked to spot a much smaller boat battling the elements.

Tom Behan, boater in Lake Huron: The boat was bobbing around like a cork and I made a remark that “Boy, there’s a brave soul out here in that size boat in a 5 foot sea.” I said, “I think the boat’s in trouble.”

It was “Sea’s Life” —  Lana Stempien’s boat.

Just an hour earlier, her distraught father had called the Coast Guard to report the boat overdue.

The family hadn’t heard from Lana, or her boyfriend Chuck, since 1:45 p.m. Thursday, when Lana called her Aunt Pat in Florida.

Pat Koczara, Lana's aunt: She was in very good spirits. I didn’t hear anything wrong in her voice and she said she was about two hours away from Mackinac island.

But the couple never made it.

When the St. Ignace Coast Guard arrived on the scene shortly after Behan first spotted “Sea’s Life,” they feared something had gone terribly wrong. 

Jim Renkes, Coast Guard: We tried to use our loud hailer to see if we could get any sign of people on board the boat or any response. There was nothing. The boat was empty. There was nobody on it.

Not only was Lana’s boat abandoned, it was about 11 miles northeast of Mackinac Island— way off course, its engine idling in neutral, the stereo still playing, just adrift in the middle of the lake.

Renkes: That’s where we found the boat. It was in open water.

What had happened to Lana and Chuck?  The Coast Guard launched a massive search and rescue effort that spanned some 1600 square miles, but 26 hours later, they called off the search — there was no sign of the missing couple anywhere.

Lana’s cousin Tammy Swanson got the call from another cousin.

Tammy Swanson, Lana’s cousin: She didn’t even say hello. She just said “Lana’s missing.”

Chris Hansen:  Lana’s missing?

Swanson:  Right. I was in shock. I was in awe. I said “I just left her a message. What do you mean she’s missing?”

How could Lana, the daughter of the former Coast Guard officer, go missing on the water? To Chris Crowley, another cousin's of Lana's, it just didn’t make sense. He says Lana always adhered to the strict rules of boating she learned from her dad.

Stunned, Lana’s large, close-knit family jumped into action. Within hours they had converged from all over the state, pouring over maps, renting airplanes, helicopters, even jet skis.

Crowley: In very short order we had about 20 people.

Hansen: At first did you hold out hope that maybe Lana and Chuck would be found alive?

Crowley:  Oh that’s all we were thinking about. We were completely thinking "search and rescue."

Hansen: You figured they were clinging onto some life jacket, life ring…

Crowley:  Absolutely. That’s the only way we could think. In fact, we were making a lot of jokes about we know when we find Lana she’s gonna say “What the heck took you so long? I’ve been out here for a day and a half, where you been?”

Another group of cousins plastered the Northern Michigan shoreline with flyers.

Swanson: Our only thought was we’re going to every bar, every marina, every party store, every anywhere… just hoping that she was somewhere.

Detective Sergeant Robin Sexton of the Michigan State Police had a missing persons case on his hands  — and after inspecting Lana’s boat with three other troopers, there were very few clues about why the young couple had seemingly vanished.

Hansen:  Was there anything on board the boat that indicated foul play?

Detective Sexton, Michigan P.D.:  Nothing. It appeared that somebody just walked off the boat. There was nothing untoward, unusual about the boat condition at all.

Hansen:  Any signs of a struggle?

Detective Sexton: Nothing.

Hansen:  Obvious signs of blood?

Detective Sexton:  Nothing. No damage to the boat. Things that may have been considered of value were still there. Money was in the wallet. Clothes were laying on the deck.  Nothing unusual. The natural assumption is they drowned.

Had the couple simply gone for a swim and somehow drifted dangerously far from the boat? 

Hansen: Boat got away from them — they drowned?

Crowley: The water wasn’t that warm. The weather wasn’t that calm—and they decided to both jump off the boat and the boat got away? That just doesn’t seem to add up.

On Thursday, the day before Lana’s boat was discovered, the water in Lake Huron had only been about 65 degrees. When Richard Bannon waved goodbye to the couple that morning in Oscoda, they were bundled up in sweatshirts. And, when she talked to her Aunt Pat, Lana hardly sounded like she was ready to dive in for a swim.

Koszcara: She said, “We were hoping to get an early start. We wanted to avoid the rough water.” She says “But it didn’t work out that way.” So I got the impression that the water was very rough.

What’s more, when “Sea’s Life” was found, the swim ladder was still up—not down as you’d expect it to be if someone had gone for a swim.

Whatever went wrong, Lana’s family was convinced it didn’t start with a casual dip in the lake.

And an accidental drowning seemed every bit as unlikely.

Koczara: We knew that both her and Chuck were excellent swimmers. At the wedding in Bermuda, we watched them tread water for maybe 20 minutes to 30 minutes and I had that in my mind.

Swanson: We figured they had to be out there somewhere. They’ve got to be on an island somewhere.

It was a slim, but comforting thread of hope.

But on Tuesday, August 16, five days after Lana and Chuck had last been heard from, that hope began to fade.  Lana’s beloved father was scheduled for heart surgery that day—and she’d promised to be home from Mackinac in time to be by his side.

Swanson: She wouldn’t have missed it. If she was somewhere, she would’ve made that phone call: “Hey, I’m okay. This is where I am. The boat got away from me. I’m ok.”  She didn’t call.

Lana is found
Then, on August 24^th, 14 days after Lana and Chuck set out on their trip, Beverly Wheaton, who’d seen the state police divers combing the waters near her home, spotted a strange shape on this rocky shoal in Hammond Bay.

Beverly Wheaton, Huron beach resident: I was sitting at the picnic table and looking out and saw something... an object that was, seemed out of place.

It was Lana. 

Crowley: We were crushed. We were convinced that we’d find her and we were going to find her alive.

Swanson: Nobody could stop crying. There was a sense of “she’s home.” We could have a funeral for her. We could try and grieve for her. We could put her to rest.

Hansen:  But it must have been just profoundly sad to have this reality hit home.

Swanson: She’s really gone. She’s really not coming home.

Any solace Lana’s family found as they laid the tall beauty to rest was short-lived. Instead of providing answers, her body only deepened the mystery of what had gone wrong on Lake Huron. She was found nude, wearing only a necklace, a ring and her treasured Omega watch.

Hansen: Did it disturb you that she was found unclothed?

Swanson: Very disturbing. Why was she naked? We just couldn’t understand that. It just raises more questions of what happened.

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