On July 22 and 23, Adventures with purpose finds the vehicles of two people who have been missing in the Pyrenees for several years. For the American team, these two discoveries owe nothing to chance. They are part of a long series of resolved cold cases.
Adour overheating
Two cold cases resolved in two days. In Urt, in the Pyrenees, two cars were recovered from the Adour river. They are less than a kilometer from each other. The license plate of each vehicle is sent to the police. These are indeed those of David Stévenin and Joëlle Pouy. Remains of human bodies were discovered inside. The investigation is resuming to determine the causes of death.
In 2018, David Stévenin, 29, left a party after an argument. He takes the road with his dog in his black Renault Mégane and disappears. A year earlier, Joëlle Pouy, 68, vanished after a visit to the medical analysis laboratory in Saint-Pierre-d’Irube. The searches and calls for witnesses are a failure. The victims and their vehicle remained untraceable for almost ten years.
David Stévenin’s family was finally contacted by an American team specializing in cold cases: Adventures with Purpose (AWP). On July 21, this team discovered the drafting of David Stévenin. Upon hearing the news, Joëlle Pouy’s husband in turn contacted AWP. They returned to the Basque Country and discovered Joëlle Pouy’s green Peugeot Partner the next day. It is submerged a few hundred meters from David’s car. A third vehicle, not yet identified, was also discovered.
Car drafting tutorial
“They arrive like superheroes, while we have been looking for eight years” greets Laura Stévenin, David’s sister, on France 3. The people who were looking for David before them passed “several times” in front of the place where the vehicle was found.
They call it the “treasure hunt”. The American team Adventures with purpose brings out the heavy artillery. They send high-precision sonar to map and locate objects underwater. Once the target is located, they attach a magnet to the boat and signal it using a buoy. The divers then descend to take the license plate and check the passenger compartment.
Family vigilantes
Since then, the search for submerged vehicles has been the specialty of the AWP team. Jared Leisek and Doug Bishop are behind the concept. Both men are professional divers, specializing in the decontamination of waterways. They embark on the adventure after discovering two bodies of missing people in vehicles underwater.
Since then, AWP has become a quartet. He mainly travels across the United States, documenting their investigations on YouTube for their 3.6 million subscribers. Since 2019, they have already found 42 people. As the name suggests, their expeditions have one goal: to allow families to mourn. “Each mission is completely free for families and law enforcement, thanks to your support through your purchases, donations and viewing our documentaries on YouTube” informs their website. The association offers survival guides and related products, such as the window breaker tool if the car falls into the water.
Behind the mask
Of great help to investigators in resolving cold cases, Doug Bishop is himself the subject of legal proceedings. In 2023, he left the adventure after being indicted for rape of a minor. The facts date back to 1992, involving a 9-year-old cousin when he was 17. AWP is still continuing to resolve cold cases. They have yet to find more than 900 people, listed on their interactive map.
