When local authorities were unable to recover the body of Dorian Adonis Pinson, 24, of Greenville, South Carolina, from Lake Lanier, his mother turned to private recovery teams to bring their family closure.
Alicia Pinson, Dorian’s mother, said she could not just give up on the search for her son after the Georgia Department of Natural Resources shifted to shore sweeps six days after Dorian went under Lake Lanier and did not resurface on April 18.
“My heart couldn’t just rest with that,” Alicia Pinson said. “I started doing my own research, looking, and looking.”
Alicia Pinson said she first tried to get in touch with Bruce’s Legacy, a Wisconsin-based non-profit that specializes in the recovery of drowning victims. Unfortunately, due to a technical issue, Alicia thought she had never received a response from Bruce’s Legacy.
With that in mind, Alicia Pinson turned to Lake Lanier Recovery Divers, a private recovery team based on Lake Lanier for more help.
Alicia Pinson said this was the start of the team she would amass which would eventually go on to recover Dorian Pinson’s body on Wednesday, July 14.
After getting in touch with Lake Lanier Recovery Divers, Alicia Pinson said the Richland County South Carolina Coroner’s Office also got involved and sent cadaver dogs to Lake Lanier.
Alicia’s team became complete when she was finally able to get in touch with Keith Cormican, founder of Bruce’s Legacy.
Cormican said after he connected with Alicia, his team started gearing up for the trip from Wisconsin to Lake Lanier. After arriving in the area earlier this week, Cormican said he was able to speak with a person who had witnessed Dorian Pinson jumping into the lake on April 18.
Cormican said the witness had been taking a video at the time, something which was essential for the recovery of Dorian Pinson.
“We went out on the lake with them, and we used all that information to get us the last seen point,” Cormican said. “He was taking a video, and that gives us GPS most times.”
After arriving at the GPS location embedded in the witness’ video, Cormican said he dropped a remote-operated vehicle in the water and located Dorian’s body 20 feet in front of him 113 feet down using sonar.
At this point, Cormican said he had to put a hold on the recovery process so that he could inform the DNR. On Wednesday, the day after Cormican originally located Dorian’s body, his team and the DNR recovered Dorian using Cormican’s remote-operated vehicle.
Alicia Pinson said she was thankful for the team that came together with the central goal of recovering her son’s body.
“All the pieces came together … for one mission,” Alicia Pinson said. “At the end of that mission, my prayers were answered.”
While Alicia said Bruce’s Legacy and the other groups that helped recover Dorian have brought her and her family closure, they now must face the reality of the situation.
“I no longer have my son to sit across from me at dinner, breakfast, lunch,” Alicia Pinson said. “Hanging out, driving to the mall … now I have to start dealing with that reality. That part is over. That part has ended.”
