In the wild waters of Florida, search and rescue teams are looking for life — and sometimes the secrets of death. After decades of using dogs to track the scent of missing people, Mike Hadsell of Peace River K9 Search and Rescue has added a new animal to his arsenal. He is training an otter to find people. "'Splash' is trained to locate and identify the odor of human remains. So, his job is to find the human victim underwater in the low visibility conditions that we can't see them," Hadsell said. In the backyard of his Englewood, Florida home, Hadsell has filled three kiddie pools to train "Splash." As part of his training, the scent of human remains is hidden within the pool. "You'll see all these bubbles coming out, and he's sucking some of those bubbles back in and he's tasting them. The odor attaches itself to the bubble, and then he tastes it when it comes into his mouth. And so that's how he does it. When he finds something, he comes back and he grabs my mask," Hadsdell said. In 2024, divers solved a mystery decades in the making. 38 years earlier, Maureen Sherman left her family townhome and drove 150 feet into a Miami-Dade canal. Investigators told the family they searched the water. “They said, We looked and she wasn't there.' I think that was the honest end of their search,” said son James Sherman. Last year, volunteer divers with Sunshine State Sonar located her Chrysler station wagon at the bottom of the canal with the remains of the mother of four inside. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/life/animals/florida-otter-searches-for-missing-people/67-10cedc5c-5e6f-4907-950a-44095e4ff192