It began like any other autumn evening in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
On October 4, 2006, 26-year-old Dedrick Bernard Smith was last seen at his girlfriend’s house on a quiet block lined with trees just starting to turn gold.

When she returned home from the store, Dedrick — and his car — were gone.

Hours turned to days. Days became months. His family filed missing-person reports, searched highways, posted flyers, and begged for leads. But Dedrick, a kind young man who struggled with paranoid schizophrenia and amnesia, seemed to have vanished into thin air.

For 16 years, there were no answers. Until a team of volunteer divers — calling themselves Adventures With Purpose — arrived in town armed with sonar, hope, and a promise: “We find the lost.”

The Disappearance

October 4, 2006.

Dedrick’s girlfriend left their home briefly to run errands. When she returned, his 1993 turquoise Pontiac Grand Am was gone.

Police began a missing-person investigation, but with no witnesses, no phone activity, and no credit card use, leads quickly ran dry.

Dedrick’s family told authorities about his medical condition. He needed daily medication and was known to become confused, sometimes forgetting where he was. They feared he might have become disoriented while driving — but despite searches, no car, no trace, and no body were ever found.

“Every year we hoped for a call,” one relative later shared. “We just wanted to know if he was okay.”

The hope faded but never died.

The Arrival of Adventures With Purpose

Fast forward to 2022 — sixteen years after Dedrick vanished.

That’s when Doug Bishop and his team from Adventures With Purpose (AWP) arrived in Winston-Salem. The group had built a reputation for solving long-cold missing-persons cases by searching lakes, rivers, and reservoirs across the U.S. using cutting-edge side-scan sonar technology.

They had already solved over 25 cases — but Dedrick’s would be one of their most emotional yet.

Standing before a large digital map of the area, Doug explained their plan:

“We create five-mile search zones from his home and from his girlfriend’s house,” he said. “Every waterway inside that radius gets checked.”

The map lit up with three key locations: Salem Lake, Winston Lake, and Quarry Park. Each large enough — and deep enough — to conceal a vehicle.

“We don’t stop until we’ve ruled them all out,” Doug added.

The team packed up their sonar gear, inflatable boats, and cameras, and set out for Winston Lake first.

The Search

The lake was calm, its surface still and green under a quiet October sky.

Doug and his partner Carson maneuvered their small boat into the middle of the water, scanning the lake floor with sonar.

Depth readings flashed across the screen: 5 feet… 7 feet… 12 feet… 19 feet.

And then — an unmistakable shape appeared.

“I believe we have a car,” Doug said into his radio. “Absolutely a car.”

The divers dropped a magnetic buoy marker to the location and prepared their gear. Doug slipped beneath the surface, descending through 12 feet of cold, dark water.

When his voice came crackling through the comms, everyone held their breath.

“It’s a white vehicle,” Doug reported. “Rear window intact… no sign of human remains. License plate — October 2019 registration. This isn’t our car.”

The disappointment was heavy.

They marked the vehicle for police recovery — likely a more recent accident — and continued the search.

Hours later, their sonar pinged again. Another car. Then another. Winston Lake, it turned out, held secrets beneath its still waters.

But none matched Dedrick’s turquoise Pontiac.

The team was ready to call it a day when something caught Doug’s eye — a faint outline at the end of an old submerged road, about 14 feet deep.

He stopped the boat.

“This one… this one looks right,” he said quietly.

Doug dropped a magnet line — click.
A solid connection.

“This is it,” he whispered.

Moments later, he plunged into the lake, guided by sonar, camera lights cutting through total darkness.

“Radio check,” came Carson’s voice.
“I read you loud and clear,” Doug replied.

Beneath the water, he felt along the side of the car. The paint — blue-green.

He reached the trunk and brushed away layers of mud until his fingers hit metal. A plate.

He read the numbers slowly, his voice breaking as he surfaced:

“License reads… N-Y-B 3645. We’ve found Dedrick’s vehicle.”

Silence. Then tears.

After sixteen years, the case that had haunted Winston-Salem was finally coming to an end.

Dedrick’s car was resting upright, completely sealed, less than a mile from where he was last seen.

Doug spoke softly to the camera afterward:

“There’s a mom who’s going to know where her son is, finally — after sixteen years.”

The Recovery

The next morning, the team returned with Winston-Salem Police and a local towing company, William Folks Record Service, which volunteered its heavy-duty rotator truck to lift the car from the water.

Doug suited up again, diving down to attach recovery straps to the front tires.

“Front end successfully rigged,” he radioed. “Ready for lift.”

Slowly, the winch began to pull.

Mud bubbled up as the Pontiac broke the surface, sunlight glinting off the faded turquoise paint for the first time since 2006.

Onshore, officers stood silently. Some locals had gathered, holding hands, whispering prayers.

When the car was finally clear of the water, police confirmed what many already knew in their hearts: Dedrick Bernard Smith had been found.

Inside the sealed vehicle were human remains believed to be his. DNA testing would later confirm the identification.

For Dedrick’s family, the discovery brought a bittersweet peace.

“We waited sixteen years,” one relative said softly. “Now we can finally lay him to rest.”

Authorities ruled the incident a tragic accident — no signs of foul play. Investigators believe Dedrick, likely disoriented due to his mental health conditions, accidentally drove into the lake late that night.

Doug Bishop reflected on the broader issue during an interview:

“We have to do more to protect people with medical or cognitive conditions. No one should suffer like this, lost and alone, because they were allowed to drive when it wasn’t safe.”

A Legacy of Purpose

For Adventures With Purpose, Dedrick’s case became another testament to why they do what they do.

They don’t charge families or police departments. They rely entirely on donations and community support.

“Community — that’s what Adventures With Purpose is about,” Doug said. “Together, we bring answers to families who’ve waited too long.”

Since 2019, AWP has helped solve more than 30 cold cases, reuniting countless families with their missing loved ones.

In Dedrick’s case, they found not just a car — but closure.

Epilogue: The Quiet Water

As Winston Lake shimmered in the sunlight that day, its surface calm again, it became a silent witness to a story that had finally found its ending.

For sixteen years, Dedrick lay beneath that water — waiting.

And when the world finally came looking for him, it found not just tragedy, but truth.

A reminder that sometimes, the answers we seek aren’t gone… they’re just hidden, waiting for someone brave enough to dive deep enough to find them.

After 16 years, missing North Carolina man Dedrick Bernard Smith was found inside his submerged 1993 Pontiac Grand Am in Winston Lake, less than a mile from where he was last seen. Volunteer divers from Adventures With Purpose used sonar technology to locate the car, bringing long-awaited closure to his family.