It was February 1, 2003. The FBI's Underwater Search and Evidence Recovery Team, based out of the New York City Field Office, was in Panama City Beach, at the US Navy Diving and Salvage School training with members of Florida State University's Forensic Diving Program. The relative calm of the training program was suddenly shattered when word came the the space shuttle Columbia had disintegrated during re-entry in the Earth's atmosphere.

At the request of NASA and FEMA, the FBI dive team was quickly redeployed to Hemphill, Texas, on February 3 to help search for shuttle debris. At that time divers from the Texas Department of Public Safety, under the command of Lyn Dixon, were on the scene, along with members of the Harris County Sheriff's Office, who were conducting sidescan sonar operations.

The FBI team brought its Deep Ocean Engineering Phantom 2+2 ROV, two Marine Sonic Technologies sidescan sonar units, a towed magnetometer, handheld underwater metal detectors, diver-held sonar units, and other equipment.

After consultation with NASA astronauts Jim Reilly and Steve Bowen, it was decided that the water-based search operations should be moved out of Hemphill and closer to the Toledo Bend Reservoir where a very large object was reported to have splashed down after the shuttle broke apart over Texas.

The team secured the use of the Fair Mount Fire Department's station and setup an Incident Command Post (ICS) under the direction of FEMA's Gene Davenport. Sidescan expert Gene Rawlston was also brought in to add to aid in the search. The sidescan sonar operators would conduct operations, review data and compile priority target lists, which would result in targets being assigned to either an ROV team or a dive team.

At that point, Houston Police Department divers, (under Sgt. Art Oates), the EPA dive team (under Kevin Larson), and an ROV team from the Savannah (Ga.) River Authority (Ron Johnson, Todd Coleman, and David Martinez) also joined the effort.

Also providing valuable assets were the US Coast Guard's Atlantic Strike Force and Gulf Strike Force. Instrumental in this effort were the mapping capabilities and assets of the Texas Water Development Board's Texas Natural Resources Information Systems and the local knowledge of the Sabine River Authority.

Since this was not deemed a potential criminal matter and due to the size of the search area, it was decided to determine what recovery resources might be available form the US Navy.

Finally, a Find
On February 10, two FBI divers conducting a methodical search pattern began to notice small, irregular shaped, fine black film-like materials on the lake bottom. Continuing the search pattern while following the black substance trail led the divers to a circular object laying flat on the bottom. The cylindrical object measured approximately 18 inches in diameter and 20 inches in height, and weighed about 50 pounds.

The object was recovered by the divers and later confirmed to be Columbia's left wheel braking assembly, the first confirmed piece of shuttle debris retrieved by divers from the Toledo Bend Reservoir. Unfortunately, it was to be the only piece found by the searchers. Due to the heightened state of national alert caused by the impending Iraq war, the FBI dive team returned to its New York base on February 12. As this magazine went to press, there had been no further significant shuttle debris finds by dive teams in Texas.

In this exclusive interview, FBI Special Agent and Dive Team Coordinator Robert Chacon describes the spirit of teamwork and cooperation between local, state, and federal agencies during a very somber search process.

UW: How big was the search area?
RC: The search area is enormous. The Toledo Bend Reservoir is 69 miles long and several miles wide. In addition, the debris field encompassed the Sam Rayburn Reservoir and numerous other bodies of water. Our team was only initially involved in setting up dive operations and searching a small area of Toledo Bend.

UW: Did any commercial contractors, manufacturers, or distributors help out with the search?
RC: I consulted with Oceaneering while still en route to the search site to inquire about some laser line scan equipment. However, once on site we realized that it wouldn't be an option. Marine Sonic Technologies also had a rep on hand who arrived with the initial Navy personnel and assisted us with our sidescan console. There may also have been others on site that I was not aware of.

UW: What gear did your divers use for the search?
RC: The FBI divers were using their standard Viking Pro drysuits with Aga MKII full-face masks and our surface-supplied air system (a Kirby Morgan Dive Systems DCS-2A console) with hard-wired comm (OTS). Although we had them with us, we decided not to use our Superlite 17s.

UW: What national and local dive or search teams were involved?
RC: Along with the FBI divers were teams from the Texas DPS, Houston Police Dept., EPA, and Harris County Sheriff's Office. US Navy salvage divers arrived to join the search sometime after we returned to New York City.

UW: What obstacles to the search did you encounter (weather, unreliable eyewitness reports as to location, strange items on the bottom giving confusing sonar readings, etc.)?
RC: The biggest obstacle to the search was the condition of Toledo Bend at the time it was flooded in the 1970s. An enormous number of large standing trees remain in the reservoir and hinder boat navigation for sidescan sonar operators, make it difficult to pilot ROVs without entangling the umbilicals, and create problems for divers attempting to conduct thorough and methodical search patterns.
The channels in the reservoir were formed by dredging large amounts of these trees and then leaving the large pile of trees on the bottom, creating fishing holes. These standing and felled trees created problems for those interpreting the sidescan sonar data. Many targets prosecuted by FBI divers were determined to be trees or other geologics.
Witness statements were also of questionable reliability due to the fact that, on the morning of the accident, there was a thick fog blanketing the reservoir. Almost all witness accounts were due to the witness hearing something hit the water, and not seeing an object.
The now somewhat infamous "compact-car-sized object," as reported by numerous media outlets, was of great interest early on and some resources were spent attempting to locate this object based on witness statements. A fisherman heard what he believed to be a very large object hit the water and it made a large wake which made his boat rock. The object found by the FBI divers was in the area of this account and may have been the object in question.

UW: How did the Phantom ROV perform?
RC: Our Phantom 2+2 carries a Kongsberg 650m Digital Sector Scanning Sonar head and contains an altimeter, two video cameras, a full color full tilting front camera, a fixed low lux rear camera, and a manipulator arm.
Although extremely versatile - it helped us locate and retrieve four murder victims in over 300 feet (91m) of water last year in northern California - our Phantom proved too big for this particular environment. Most of the search area we were in was 12-15 feet (4-5m) in depth with heavy vegetation and it was easier to splash divers than utilize the Phantom in that environment. The Savannah River Authority had a bit more success with their VideoRay ROV, due to its much smaller size.

UW: How much longer will the search go on?
RC: The week after we left the US Navy Salvage Team arrived and predicted it would take 45 days to search the area.

UW: Is there a specific piece of the shuttle that you are certain is there, but have not found yet?
RC: There are no specific pieces of the shuttle that we were told, for certain, were in Toledo Bend. However, by reviewing the results of the debris located on land and following the debris path, it would appear likely that additional pieces of the shuttle landed in Toledo Bend Reservoir.