John Putnam's Journal
May 28, 2003
Day 3 - Wednesday, May 28th, 2003 - Wednesday morning the plan was to get up at 8 and go. We must have stayed up later than we thought. We didn't leave the hotel until around 11am. We were concerned that dad was not going to be completely on board with the idea of us taking jet skis and looking for Laura. Our plan included Phil, Audrey and I renting jet skis and going on the water and Robin taking the car back to the lake house and then telling dad where we were. That way we were already doing it. As it turned out, he appeared pleased with the idea. He too was probably concerned that no one was looking for her. We arrived at the marina around noon. It was open for business but it was deserted. We made our way to the rental cabana. The prices were posted on the wall for rentals. I found the jet ski prices. It was an unexpected $110 per hour, per ski. Oops, maybe we would not be renting jet skis. I think at that moment we looked at each other and recalled seeing a rental place we could get a canoe. About that time, a young woman appeared that was obviously an employee of the marina. I had spoken to her earlier that morning and told her we were coming in. She greeted us. I told her that I did not realize the expense involved in renting jet skis and I was afraid we would not be able to get them. She advised us that we were not going to be charged for them. What a surprise. The manager soon appeared and let us know what was going on. Not only were they essentially letting us have the skis, they wouldn't even let us pay for the gas. They had also already warmed two of them up for us. So, we filled out the necessary paper work, fitted for life vests and got the run down on how to drive these things. I had never driven one before. Just before we pushed out, the local sheriff showed up. He had apparently gotten wind of what we were doing and sort of stopped by to check us out. He was a giant man. Very nice. He very respectfully offered his condolences. He told us he was on the water in a boat within 10 minutes of the 911 call the night of the accident. He did not really say he was on board with what we were doing, however he did indicate that he understood. He told us to be careful and that if we did find her to be prepared. It was not going to be pretty. I told him we were not looking to find her and jump in and save her or anything. He said if we did find her, stay far away and call them. If we found her, the scene would need to be processed as a crime scene. All in all, we understood that if we found her it was going to be very shockingly gruesome. The sheriff gave us a topographical map with the GPS coordinates of the accident site as well as the primary search area. He showed us where we were and where to look. He again expressed emotion about our situation and we said goodbye. The marina manager told us they closed at 7pm and would we try to be back by 6pm or so. What a nice group of people. They pushed us out and we were off. It felt really good to be on the water. I know Phil was in a good place mentally. I had tears in my eyes at one point. Just the thought of possibly finding her ourselves really made us feel better. At least we were doing something. It only made sense to be out there looking for her. And it made us feel like we were close to her. I figured if she could see us she would be proud. All in all, it was a task. It was something to do. It took some time to cruise out of the marina and we eventually made it out to the point. We stopped and got out our map and oriented ourselves. This lake was not familiar to us and we were not sure where everything was. It was a small lake. After a little studying we figured it out. We discussed a plan on where to go and what to do. The real mission for us was probably more of a peace of mind mission. The kind of peace of mind that you only get by looking for yourself. Half of the lake was pretty populated and had regular activity. In that case one could assume that if she surfaced near these areas, someone would see her. However, the other side of the lake was relatively undeveloped and what was developed was clearly low end weekend stuff that looked like no one had been there in months. That was where our concern was. What if she were to surface under someone's boat dock that was not going to be at their place for another 3 months. If that were the case, we would essentially be sitting around waiting for some anonymous family to decide to go to the lake and find her for us. We started the search on the undeveloped side. We looked in every cove, under every dock and tree and bush out there. We moved along the dam and on around to the more populated area. We covered the entire perimeter of the primary search area. It took about 2 and a half hours. We went back to the marina. Robin and dad showed up and we had a bite to eat in the marina restaurant. We told dad what was going on. He seemed ok with it. After lunch we decided to go make one more run on the search area. To change perspective, we searched in the opposite direction this time. Again, it was about a 2 and a half hour project. We finished around 5:30pm and thanked the guys at the marina. We bought some t-shirts just to spend some money with them. They told us we could use the skis again the following day. We went back to the lake house for what was becoming the ritual. We exchanged briefly with the folks and headed back to the hotel. Shower and an evening at Chili's. We were surprised when we found out our cousin, who is Laura's age just showed up. She is my dad's sister's granddaughter. I haven't seen her in years. She explained that she was upset and the next thing she knew she was in Marble Falls looking for us. I am sure she was relieved to find us. She went with us to Chili's. After being at Chili's a short time, mom and dad showed up. Dad advised that we all needed to pay out and go back to the hotel lobby and have some quiet time or something. There was a huge misunderstanding going on. Phil and I felt like dad was not happy with us seemingly enjoying ourselves in a bar when there was so much sacrifice and misery to be had out of respect to our dead sister. That may have been as angry as we had ever been. We went to the hotel and everyone sat down and mom got to carrying on with Sarah about what a great person she was and such. We were standing in disbelief. Finally Phil blurted out that he hadn't eaten and if anyone was interested in talking to him he would be at the bar. Wow. I was anxious for dad's reaction with intentions of speaking on Phil's behalf if necessary. Dad's reaction was of surprise. I could see it in his eyes. It was like he realized he accidentally interrupted what we were doing. He apologized and we all went back to Chili's. What a misunderstanding. He had no problem with where we were. He thought we were done eating and about to leave and go to bed. All he was shooting for was a little time before we turned in. He didn't realize we had just sat down. That was that.
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