Gary Reid and three members of the San Diego County Dive Recovery Unit, also known as the Underwater Search and Recovery Team, talked about their duties and several cases at the Sisters & Misters in Crime meeting on July 7, 2011.
The presenters showed slides of cases on which they worked. One of those case the Llama Man case involved recovering a body in La Jolla Cove where a diver had seen what he thought was a white fish swimming around a chain that held a buoy in place. The “fish” was actually a hand floating in the tide, attached to the body of a fit man handcuffed to the chain. The man was dressed in a swim suit and had been in the water for several hours.
The team recovered the body and it was only after it was examined by a medical official that the handcuff key was found in the man’s clenched hand. He was identified as “The Llama Man,” a local resident who roamed the area with a llama and a couple of dogs. Llama Man was well known to local residents and the media for his actions, which frequently brought him attention.
Upon investigation, authorities concluded that Llama Man gave away his animals and committed suicide by handcuffing himself to the chain. Reid said that Llama Man had mental problems, but knew of no other reason why he’d committed suicide.
Reid and the team also told of a small group of men fishing on the shore of an area lake. A storm came up and a nearby fisherman in a boat offered the men a ride back to their car on his boat. One man declined and started walking. The others and the boat owner pulled out onto the lake, only to capsize in the storm. The team believe that a sudden lightning strike caused the men to all turn and look, unbalancing the boat and sinking it.
The team talked about diving in “black water.” Water so dirty or silty that it’s impossible to see a flashlight right in front of their faces. For more information about the team, visit their web page at http://www.sdsheriff.net/documents/dive-info.pdf.