Meet Splash the Otter Solving Cold Cases Underwater

A unique new member of a Florida search and rescue team is using his natural instincts to solve cold cases in deep water. Kimberly Kuzon introduced us to Splash the Otter. Water has always been that area that the bad guys knew that if they they dispose of it in water they have a really good chance of getting away with it. Michael Hadsell of Peace River Canine Search and Rescue has worked on numerous cases over the decades. His canine partners work to sniff out what criminals try to ditch. Now they have a new tool. How are you? This is Splash the Otter. For the last year and a half he's been part of the team. Now we're trying to change that. We're going to turn that over and say no. Sorry serial killer the otter got you this time. Hadsell trained Splash to use his nose to sniff out remains or evidence submerged in water and his whiskers are used like a powerful sonar. He's not just using odor as his main tool to find it. He uses it more as a but he's finding it using his his whiskers. Splash is an Asian small-clawed otter. He navigates through zero visibility and communicates to Hadsell through a signal system using a tether line. When he detects a target Splash seizes Hadsell's dive mask. You have to have a trust bond with them and they have to absolutely believe that you're going to take good care of them and so I've really protected my relationship with with Splash to make sure that he knows that I'm going to be there and take care of him. He's got a good record. We are at nine recoveries right now. Two were evidence and seven were remains. And Hadsell believes otters could one day become standard for law enforcement and add a tool of course to their canine partners. No one's done this before and of course this is dealing with you know the edge of criminal law so you know this is this is stuff that will become evidentiary in a court somewhere so we want to make sure we set it up right we do it right so that when we get into court the cases are not blown up because there's an otter working on the case. Splash is more than a partner. He's a team member and family working alongside Hadsell to bring answers to cold cases. There's a bad guy who got away with something and there's a family who's missing their loved one and we want to get that resolved. I'm Atiana San Miguel. Thank you for watching our story. If you'd like to see more like it be sure to hit that subscribe button. Also be sure to watch us weekday Bye. See you on the next one.