Driven by a promise and a prayer, Stockton diver Juan Heredia of Angels Recovery Dive Team traveled to the treacherous waters of Sequoia National Park on Saturday, July 12, in a renewed search for Jomarie Calasanz, the 26-year-old Los Angeles woman swept away while trying to save her sister.
Calasanz vanished on May 25 after jumping into the swift currents of the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River near Paradise Creek Bridge. Her family says she was trying to rescue her older sister, Joanne, who had been caught in the waters during a Memorial Day weekend outing.
“While taking the first dip of the day, Joanne started to get swept away,” reads a tribute on the family’s GoFundMe page. “With a brave, loving heart and amazing courage, Jomarie, being a swimmer, instantly swam to save her sister.” Both women were pulled under, but only Joanne made it out.
What happened to Calasanz?
A nine-day, multi-agency search followed, but dangerous river conditions forced officials to scale back efforts. “Jomarie could still be located within the park,” officials said at the time, “but divers are unable to complete an underwater search of the river.”
Now, Heredia — a volunteer diver known for recovering drowning victims across the U.S. — has taken up the mission.
“I must find Jomarie and bring her home,” Heredia posted on Facebook before beginning the search. “Her parents have been living in agony for too many weeks. If you’re nearby, come pray with us before I go in the water. If not, please pray from home.”
Who is diver Juan Heredia?
Heredia, who began diving at 18 in his native Argentina, has recovered the remains of several missing people this year alone, according to reporting by the Stockton Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. In June, he located three men trapped beneath a waterfall in Placer County. In March, he helped find a missing Oregon toddler. And in January, he recovered the body of 17-year-old Wesley Cornett after a 21-day search that spanned Christmas and New Year’s.
His first recovery mission began in 2023, when he helped locate 15-year-old Xavier Martinez, who disappeared in Stockton’s Calaveras River. Since then, Heredia has turned his recreational passion into a calling — one that’s earned him recognition from the Stockton City Council and the gratitude of grieving families across the country.
As a father, Heredia says he understands the pain of not knowing. In his living room, he keeps photos of every person he’s recovered — smiling portraits that help him replace the haunting images from the water.
“My way of erasing that image when I found them in the state I found them is to have that photo in my living room,” the Stockton mortgage lender said. “I always have them smiling in my living room, and I look at them every day.”
Open water safety tips:
This article originally appeared on The Record: ‘I must find Jomarie’: Stockton diver travels to Sequoia National Park to find missing woman
Reporting by Sheyanne N Romero, Elizabeth Roberts and Angelaydet Rocha, Visalia Times-Delta / The Record
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
