Ten years later: Mystery persists of Lake Huron tragedy

by Peter Jakey–Managing Editor

Ten years after Lana Stempien’s body was found on the shores of Hammond Bay, her family has not given up searching for answers as to what happened to her on Lake Huron, Aug. 11, 2005.

Lana, 35, and her boyfriend Charles “Chuck” Rutherford, 35, disappeared that day under what the family believes are mysterious circumstances. Her body was found a few weeks later, while his has never surfaced. He was pronounced legally dead in Presque Isle County Probate Court.

Lana, an attorney for the city of Detroit, set sail from a dock at Stempien’s parents’ cottage on Belle River, in Ontario, Canada, and headed north, planning to hug the Lake Huron shoreline, before crossing the Straits of Mackinac to the island.

Two days into their long planned getaway on Lake Huron, the young attorneys vanished.

Stempien was an expert and experienced boater, trained by her father, a retired U.S. Coast Guard officer.

John VanMaele, who has lived and worked in Rogers City for seven years, learned about boat safety from Lana’s father, Tom – his cousin.

“Our family grew up on the water,” said John. The Stempien family is a tight-knit bunch that did not miss an opportunity to get together.

“We all learned to handle boats and be out on the water, swim and water ski. Lana learned the same way, through her dad and me.”

John said Lana was a fun-loving woman, while Chuck was a serious individual. “I only met him a couple of times,” he admitted. “She was a helluva woman. She was a model and paid her way through law school. She did everything on her own.” She also was the captain of her 27-foot Wellcraft cabin cruiser, Sea’s Life.

The unmarried couple were last seen at 12:45 p.m. Aug. 11, 2005, motoring into brisk winds after gassing up at Presque Isle Harbor.

At 1:44 p.m., the last time anyone in Lana’s family would hear from her, she made a chatty, 14-minute call to her Aunt Pat in Florida.

“She said that th

ey were near Rogers City, and expected to be docking at Mackinac Island in about two hours. Her aunt said she was in very good spirits and she didn’t hear anything wrong in her voice,” said cousin Sheri Koczara Burch, who lives in Virginia.

Her family never heard from her again, and Sea’s Life never made it to Mackinac Island. At 9:10 a.m., the morning of Aug. 12, 2005 the Stempien family contacted authorities and the Coast Guard put out an alert.

(The complete story is in the Sept. 3, 2015 edition of the Presque Isle County Advance)