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Oregon dive team explains how they helped locate missing Iowa man's car in pond

Human remains found inside the car of Ethan Kazmerzak have been sent to the State Medical Examiner's Office for identification.

HAMPTON, Iowa — "Adventures With Purpose" is a YouTube channel with over a half-million subscribers that helps preserve the environment and recover property through scuba diving.

But with their help, the car of an Iowa man missing since 2013 has been recovered. 

Human remains were found inside the car, and have been sent to the State Medical Examiner's Office for identification, 

Franklin County Sheriff Aaron Dodd announced Tuesday that the 2006 Volkswagen of Ethan Kazmerzak was recovered from a body of water on Monday after the Oregon-based diving team of Jared Leisek, "Sam Sam the Adventure Man" and company made the trip to Iowa.

AWP, as they are called, came out in late September to look in some ponds with no luck. 

But it wasn't until a viewer reached out and pointed them to another spot that there was finally some resolution to the seven-year-old missing person case.

So in the middle of a 45-day road trip, AWP headed back to Iowa

"It wasn't more than 30 minutes of being back in Hampton in the water that we were actually able to locate [his car] on sonar" Leisek told Local 5. "We then dove on our target and sure enough, it was Ethan's vehicle."

It was at that point that law enforcement was notified and the car was pulled from the water.

Dodd said the AWP crew had more up-to-date equipment since the last search on that specific area was several years ago.

"We're coming along seven years later, and at the time they searched that .. how old was their technology at the time? ... We're coming in with brand-new technology," Leisek said. "Sonar has been around, but sonar and the technology has gotten better. Some of our equipment has only been out for six months."

"So with that: the right position, the right time, the right angle, the settings, I don't fault any previous search team on this one."

AWP says they don't pursue cases based on reward money—though they are self-funded—and are on their way back to Oregon while taking a closer look at two more cases.

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