Miraculously, the camera's SD card was still working, giving Richard Ragland's family some closure.
A diver found a GoPro buried at the bottom of a murky lake — and discovered it contained the final, happy memories of a swimmer who had drowned two years earlier.
Rich Aloha, who shares videos of his dives on YouTube, was searching for treasure in a lake in Tennessee when he came across the device.
"I had been given a tip by a state park ranger that if I found a GoPro of an African American male from 2017 that there was a chance that it would be the guy who drowned," he told Inside Edition.
Incredibly, he did come across a GoPro and, although it looked damaged, the memory card inside was salvageable.
It contained videos of 22-year-old Richard Ragland splashing around with friends at a waterfall in 2017. But the day ended in tragedy: Ragland went under water and never came back.
"I reviewed the footage and I was just like, 'Oh my god, this is him,'" said Aloha.
Aloha tracked down a phone number for Ragland's parents and they met up so Aloha could return the camera.
"They were just stunned, they were just staring at the GoPro in disbelief," Aloha said. "Words can't describe how it feels. ... I don't think there's been a more impactful find."
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