PORT ANGELES — A Berlin, Ohio-based organization enlisted to search for the body of Travis Valenti, a kayaker who is presumed dead from drowning, has received a special use permit to dive in Lake Crescent.
The permit can be used any time between June 20 and June 30 but neither the organization, Christian Aid Ministries, nor Olympic National Park will say when the dive will occur.
A Christian Aid Ministries representative wrote in a Tuesday email: “Yes, we have received a permit to search on Lake Crescent and cannot comment further on any plans at this point.”
Amos Almy, Olympic National Park spokesperson, confirmed Tuesday that the organization had been given the permit on June 16 but also declined to comment further.
A Wednesday phone call to Valenti’s brother, Austin, was not returned Wednesday afternoon.
Almy wrote in a Wednesday email that Christian Aid Ministries doesn’t have to report anything to the park unless they locate the body.
Valenti, 37, of Massapequa, N.Y., was lost in the lake and presumed dead on June 9.
Valenti was kayaking on Lake Crescent with his fiancée, Marlene Junker, when his kayak began taking on water.
He attempted to continue paddling but ultimately had to abandon his kayak and enter the water, according to the park.
As Junker tried to rescue Valenti, her kayak overturned and she also entered the water. She managed to swim to shore, but Valenti could not, according to the park. Neither was wearing a life jacket.
Christian Aid Ministries is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that describes itself as “a trustworthy and efficient channel for Amish, Mennonite, and other conservative Anabaptist groups and individuals.”
It has operated a search and rescue division since 2016 that currently has teams in Ohio, Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Virginia, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana and Pennsylvania, it said on its website.
Since being set up June 13, a GoFundMe campaign to pay for the search for Valenti’s body had raised $60,002 from 687 donations as of 3 p.m. Wednesday. The goal had been $20,000.
The fundraiser, “Help us find Travis Valenti,” can be viewed at https://gf.me/v/c/gfm/help-us-find-travis-valenti.
The Lake Crescent Bathymetric (depth) Survey conducted in 2013 and 2014 by the U.S. Geological Survey took more than 5,000 depth soundings in the lake. GIS statistical analysis showed the deepest spot was 596 feet.
Lake Crescent has been the site of several search and rescue/recovery missions during the past two decades.
In August 2022, Tou Yang, a 43-year-old visitor from Robbinsdale, Minn., died after diving from a 40-foot cliff at the Devil’s Punchbowl, a popular swimming area at Lake Crescent. Yang resurfaced but then was unable to climb out on the rocky shoreline.
In April 2020, authorities searched along the shore of Lake Crescent for a 60-year-old Port Angeles woman, Margaret Baker. Her red kayak was found floating upside down near milepost 229 along U.S. Highway 101.
In May 2019, search teams and divers were unable to locate a 35-year-old Federal Way woman, Lena Lang, who floated into Lake Crescent on an inflatable raft west of Barnes Point.
In July 2006, the body of 20-year-old Jesse Sayre Thanem of Port Angeles was located by National Park Service scuba divers in about 55 feet of water at the Devil’s Punchbowl.
In December 2004, divers searched in 180 feet of water for human remains near the submerged wreckage from a 1929 car accident involving Russel and Blanch Warren, a Bogachiel couple who disappeared off Ambulance Point, also known as Meldrim Point.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at brian.gawley@soundpublishing.com.
