‘A Bittersweet Moment’: Nonprofit Locates Kayaker’s Remains in National Park Lake After Year-Long Search

Wesley Dopkins was last seen in June 2024, paddling a kayak across Jackson Lake without a life jacket. Over a year later, a nonprofit search and recovery (SAR) organization known as Bruce’s Legacy finally located his body using advanced sonar technology.

The organization is one of many regional SAR groups across the country, helping to fill the gaps that law enforcement can’t.

Dopkins, 43, went missing after he and a friend attempted to paddle 3 miles across Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park (GTNP). Their destination was Waterfalls Canyon, but neither man would make it there. When they started, it was a nice day. But vicious winds picked up, catching the two men in 6-foot waves. His partner turned around, but Dopkins continued on out of sight.

Later, his kayak, dry bag, and paddle were found floating off Moose Island. The National Park Service (NPS) initiated a huge search with boats, helicopters, SAR dogs, and ground teams. But after several days, NPS called the effort off.

That’s when Dopkins’ mother, Kathryn, contacted Bruce’s Legacy. The 501(c)(3) SAR organization specializes in bringing closure to families impacted by drowning tragedies. It took over a year, and the volunteer team faced challenges it had never encountered before. But on September 7, 2025, the search finally came to an end.

“There were a lot of places I was really worried that if he had landed in some of those areas, we’d never have found him,” Keith Cormican, founder of Bruce’s Legacy, told GearJunkie. “But it paid off by being patient and just working it.”

Bruce’s Legacy: Nonprofit SAR Helps Grieving Families & Communities

Cormican founded Bruce’s Legacy in 2013, naming the organization after his brother, who died during an attempted SAR operation in Wisconsin in 1995. While recovering the body of a drowning victim, a whirlpool sucked Bruce and two other firefighters underwater.

The death of his brother changed the course of Cormican’s life. In 1996, he established the Jackson County Dive Unit to train public safety divers. Then, after learning how sonar could be used to search for and locate remains underwater, he founded Bruce’s Legacy. To date, the organization has recovered 62 victims.

And Cormican said, by far, Dopkins’ recovery was the hardest one he’s had.

“It was the most challenging lake I’ve run into so far, and I’ve done a lot of glacier lakes,” he said.

Finding Wesley Dopkins

Kathryn Dopkins contacted Bruce’s Legacy in September 2024. That October, Cormican and his team initiated its first search. He explained that side-scanning sonar has to be towed behind the boat with a winch. It’s a 30-pound torpedo, he described, and it can scan 100 feet on both sides of the boat.

However, it needs to be suspended 10 to 15 feet above the bottom, which proved very difficult among the glacial ridges and valleys of Jackson Lake.

“It raised hell with my operation,” he said. “I had to leave because I broke stuff … we hit the bottom and broke our winch.”

That ended his October 2024 search effort. In September 2025, he returned for a second try. He ran into many of the same issues, he said, but eventually they found what they were looking for. A mile and a half from where he was last seen, and 420 feet underwater, they found Dopkins’ remains. The next day, on September 8, Cormican, his team, and several GTNP rangers returned and successfully brought Dopkins home.

“It’s always a bittersweet moment,” Cormican said. It’s a triumphant feeling, that’s quickly followed by the knowledge you have to deliver that news to the family. Yes, it’s rewarding, he said, but doleful at the same time.

Never-Ending Work

When Cormican spoke with GearJunkie, he was on the road. After leaving Wyoming, he’d gone straight to Iowa to help a family look for a loved one who was missing on the Missouri River. Then he was headed home to make repairs on his boat and teach a diving class the following week.

“Right after that,” he noted, “I leave to go to South Carolina [to look] for another missing man.”

The organization’s work is never-ending. Like other nonprofit SAR organizations, it’s funded solely by donations. In the case of Dopkins’ recovery, Grand Teton Lodge Company and Flagg Ranch Company supported their stay at the lake. In other cases, people raise money through GoFundMe campaigns to pay for their room, travel, and board. But neither he nor his volunteers receives any wages for their work.

That’s how Cormican wants it, but the nonprofit still has expenses for equipment and operation that rely on public goodwill.

“We need donations just to keep moving forward,” he said.

If you want to contact Cormican, you can find his email on the Bruce’s Legacy contact page or reach out via social media. If you’d like to donate to the organization, Cormican said the best way is through its website.