Civilian diving group finds vehicle, possible remains of Waco mom missing since 2017

Divers with Adventures With Purpose, a group of civilians who work together to solve missing persons cold cases, have located in the Brazos River in Waco the vehicle of a woman who went missing in 2017, according to NBC News.

Police confirmed the car discovered Wednesday belonged to Stephanie Torres, but said the human remains found in the vehicle have not been positively identified.

Torres was days away from her 43rd birthday when she disappeared on Dec. 20, 2017. She was seen leaving her home Waco in the car that was found, leaving her cell, wallet and medication behind, NBC News reported.

Police said they were unable to find any evidence as to where Torres was and detectives had no evidence to suggest Torres’ car would be in that river, or any body of water for that matter.

Torres’ family was contacted by Adventures With Purpose in December 2021 and the organization asked if they could help. Divers from the group arrived in Waco on Wednesday and within an hour of starting their dive found the blue and gray 2006 Kia Rio.

“It helps not just me but my family,” her daughter, Bianca Torres, told NBC News. “I just didn’t think it was going to be this quick. I thought it was going to be a while. ... When I got the phone call I broke down. I was so scared. I’m still scared.”

Bianca Torres said she thought she was ready for the news that her mother had been found by the divers, but said she was not.

Jared Leisek, founder of Adventures With Purpose, said finding the body of a missing person doesn’t bring closure but does give the families of the missing persons answers.

“Closure is not the right word, especially to mothers” Leisek said. “They say, ‘Jared, it’s never closure for us. It’s the ability to now know what happened to my son, my daughter, my husband. You’ve given me those answers I’ve been looking for so I can move forward in this healing process.”

Adventures With Purpose, a group of divers and YouTubers out of Oregon, started as an environmental cleanup group. Since 2019, they’ve been searching for missing persons. According to their website, they’ve solved 16 missing persons cases so far.

Torres, whose family described her as a beloved and hardworking mother, had been in excruciating pain from fibromyalgia when she disappeared, NBC News reported. It dominated her life and her medications caused depression as a side effect, the family said.

Torres’ family said after they filed a missing person report with police on Dec. 21, 2017, communication with police was limited. Her children, Jonathan and Bianca Torres, told NBC News they felt completely in the dark.

Police in Waco said when a week after her disappearance they learned of her medical condition and possible suicidal thoughts, the urgency and speed of the initial investigation was reduced, according to NBC News. Police said they conducted multiple searches of databases and looked for recordings of her license plate on highways and asked the Texas Rangers to do the same.

They also checked with pharmacies to see if she’d refilled any medication and asked news media and people on social media to share details of her disappearance and ask for help in locating her.

“I do know that our investigators did everything they could ... and were just not able to come up with anything,” Waco police spokesman Officer Garen Bynum told NBC News.