SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Joanna VanZant said even though she frequents a particular offshoot of the San Joaquin River, it’s not a place she likes coming to.

It’s where her son Jacob lost his life.

“He was an angel,” VanZant said, describing him as the most wonderful son.. “Best Christmas present I ever got. He was born on Dec. 23, and I got to go home on Christmas Day with him.”

VanZant said it was two months before volunteer divers with Adventures With Purpose found her son and his car in the river, in April 2023.

“I mean, the things that went through my mind, I wouldn't wish that on anybody," VanZant said. "Because the not knowing is really probably the worst part of it, was the not knowing. I mean, the fact that he was gone was actually the worst part. But second to that was the not knowing.”

San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Deputy John Canepa said sadly, many cars end up in the San Joaquin River for various reasons.

He estimates around three cars a month end up in the water. 

Canepa said it’s a big reason why they invested in a new underwater drone called a SARbot to help with search and rescue operations, which can give operators a 3D picture through sonar.

“This is huge," Canepa said. "The tools we had before were two dimensional. So we drive over something, and it was very hard to see. But with this robot, it's a lot easier to not only locate the cars, but to actually get up in there, get the license plate, and actually figure out who this car belongs to or what it's involved in.”

Canepa said it is a time-intensive process to remove cars from the river.

Another part, Canepa said, of the importance of finding and removing the cars, is the environmental impact the decaying vehicles present, as the river is used as drinking water and is an important natural ecosystem.

“These cars after so many years, they start to deteriorate and they're very hard to get out of the water,” he said.

The environmental harm the cars can cause an issue VanZant too feels strongly about.

“You know, the gasoline, the oil, the transmission fluid, everything you know, just all of it is poisoning our water,” VanZant said.

She said while the river brings sadness due to the loss of her son, she knows how important the waterway is.