Father-son team pull stolen safe from Barren Fork River
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The pair’s hope for riches was dashed, however, when after prying the safe open the only items inside were keys, rubber stamps, a gas card, a Lion’s Club plastic mint box and about 100 pounds of mud.
“Not even a quarter,” lamented Michael.
“We were very disappointed,” said his son Ben.
According to police reports and an account in the Standard, the GTE burglary occurred during the early morning hours of July 15, 1987 and was only one of a string of burglaries committed by a pair of 17-year-old juveniles that summer.
In addition to the safe, which the thieves could not open despite removing its hinges, a box containing $1,300 in cash and checks was also stolen from GTE, which is now known as Frontier Communications.
The Cruzes began their hunt for the stolen safe last week. They first learned of its existence and approximate location 11 years ago from a state trooper they once dived with, Ben said.
After 11 years of talking about such a treasure hunt, the two were prompted to take action because Ben, 22, will soon be moving to Indiana.
But the hunt was much easier said than done. Unlike the such Caribbean dive spots as the Cayman Islands, Cozumel and Belize, where the Cruzes have dived before, the Barren Fork River is no diver’s paradise.
“It was so muddy we could only see six inches in front of our faces,” said Ben. “We had to use a rope to tie ourselves together so we wouldn’t get lost. The only way to search for the safe was to feel along the bottom with our hands. On our last pass I felt something I thought was a rock, but when I poked it with a screwdriver I could tell it was metal”
The find, he added, was “one in a million,” as only one inch of metal was protruding from the river floor. The rest was buried beneath the mud.
The pair spent nearly two hours attempting to dig the safe out, but had to quit halfway through when they depleted the oxygen in their SCUBA tanks. To make certain they could locate the safe in the murky waters, the two tied the safe to a buoy and dive flag.
In doing so, however, Michael became tangled in the ropes. He attempted to activate his inflation vest to help bring him to the surface, but was unable to do so because mud has stopped up the vest’s valve. Running desperately low on oxygen, he was trapped.
“If it hadn’t been for my son cutting me loose and dragging me back to shore I would have drowned for sure,” said Michael.
Sufficiently rested and having acquired full oxygen tanks, father and son returned the next day and finished the excavation, but were unable to lift the heavy, iron safe.
As much as they hated to, the two had to leave the excavated safe sitting on the bottom of the river for nearly a week before they were both able to return to Riverfront Park to continue on Monday.
When they returned they brought with them additional oxygen tanks and a 50-pound lift bag, a device divers use to lift heavy objects to the surface. When the lift bag didn’t budge the safe, the two improvised, using four upturned, 5-gallon buckets to provide an additional 200 pounds of lift. Finally, the safe floated.
Loading the safe into their truck at the park’s boat ramp required some help and attracted a small crowd, but they waited, excitedly, until they got back to their Morrison home to open it with a crow bar.
“They got so excited and then got let down. They were so dejected,” said mom Bonnie.
Though their first treasure hunt was a bust, the pair said they don’t regret the time and expense they invested in the adventure.
“We didn’t find any treasure, but we’ll always have a good story,” said Michael.