Jacob Grubbs, founder of search and rescue team Chaos Divers, stepped off his boat Oct. 8 into the Allegheny River after another diving team detected a vehicle beneath the surface.

What Grubbs found that afternoon was the vehicle of a missing Butler County man, as well as 139 other vehicles, stacked and interlocked, under the water of Pittsburgh’s three rivers.

Grubbs said his team was asked by Adventures with Purpose, a volunteer diving organization that recovers missing people and their vehicles, to assist them in a search for Bunnie Lee and Janet Walsh, who went missing in 2013 and 2020, respectively.

“There were two potential people we were looking for, and I said, ‘Let’s dive the (vehicle) by the stadium first.’ I got on it, and I was able to determine there was someone in it,” he said.

Grubbs said the vehicle, a red Honda Civic sedan, was found in 19 feet of water, almost directly behind Acrisure Stadium.

After removing the license plate from the vehicle, Pittsburgh authorities were notified and the vehicle was extracted from the water. The body of Tod DiMinno, 54, of Harmony, was found inside the vehicle.

DiMinno was last seen Sept. 28, and was reported missing Sept. 30 after police said he didn’t pick up his daughter from her school bus stop.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner has not yet determined a cause or manner of death for DiMinno, according to Bret Myers, a Zelienople police officer.

For 1,000 yards between the Fort Duquesne Bridge and the West End Bridge, submerged vehicles littered the river bed, Grubbs said.

“It was like a junkyard, some on top of each other, interlocked,” he said. “Some were from the ’50s; we couldn’t verify what kind they were. There was a late ’80s Camero IROC, that was the oldest we could identify.”

Crews from Chaos Divers and Adventures for Purpose conducted targeted searches of the Allegheny, Ohio and Monongahela rivers over the next two days, Grubbs said, finding up to a total of 140 cars.

“We searched quite a bit. From the South Side Marina to the correctional facility on the Monogahela,” he said.

Grubbs said 80% to 90% of the vehicles found in the 1,000-yard radius behind Acrisure Stadium were searched.

“It looks like a dumping ground for a gang or the Mafia. Obviously we don’t know what is true,” he said. “To see that many down there is pretty crazy.”

In larger cities, vehicles being found in water are more common, Grubbs said. Whether someone purchased a vehicle they couldn’t afford or stole a vehicle, putting it in the water is the quickest way to dispose of it.

Between 10 and 15 vehicles were extracted from the river that week, and according to Grubbs, crews will be returning to Pittsburgh to help local diving teams extract more.

“A lot of them were not pullable, they’re deteriorating, but we tried to clear as much as we can,” he said. “There’s an old tow truck down there, that’s not able to be removed, there’s a Dodge Charger, that will be able to be removed.”

According to Grubbs, Chaos Divers, based out of Illinois, and Adventures for Purpose, based out of Oregon, were organizations created around the same time. They often team up for various projects.

“What we do is travel the country. If a person goes missing overnight, they’re either A, in the woods, or in the water,” he said. “You can’t get rid of a vehicle that quick. The quickest way to find a vehicle would be in the water.”

Grubbs said his team asks family members of the missing person about their daily routine, and investigate trying to find them using sonar in the water.

“Sonar is based upon shooting sound waves into the water, almost like a whale would shoot sound waves out, and when he gets them back, he knows how close he is to something,” he said. “If a vehicle has a lot of sediment on it, we’ll know it’s been there longer. On a newer car, it will flash and give weird looks on sonar.”

Adventures for Purpose crews were able to identify DiMinno’s car by observing those detailed flashes, Grubbs said.

When a vehicle is discovered in the water, divers secure the inside so it can be removed from the water safely.

Grubbs said the teams will be back in Pittsburgh soon to continue their searches of the rivers.

“We search to try to bring peace to the loved ones of the lost,” he said.