Charles Rutherford Jr. and Lana Stempien
Lana Stempien and Charles Rutherford Jr.
Boating Mystery Investigated
Mystery on Lake Huron
Couple’s fatal trip remains a mystery
Witnesses raise question about lawyer’s drowning in Lake Huron
Was foul play behind a boating accident?
Body found in search for lost boaters
Chuck Rutherford
Charles Rutherford, Jr. is alive and well living in the Warrenton, VA area and frequenting the Applebees bar in the evenings there where he is pursuing a bartender who looks a lot like Lana, and her name is Laura.
By: George Colwell on June 10, 2008
at 5:30 pm
Oh? Thats strange. Is Mr. Colwell, above, suggesting that Attorney Rutherford abandoned his higly successful law practice and identity in order to start over as a pauper in Virginia? The young lady’s father is perhaps blinded by emotions and refuses to admit that a beautiful young lady who is a careful boater can still come to grief in an open-air carbon monoxide intoxication accident on the water. Fortunately the state police have never adopted this tabloid view of domestic violence and homicidal intrigue.
By: Fools Gold on June 29, 2008
at 1:20 pm
The Michigan Attorney Discipline Board ordered Wednesday that west Michigan lawyer John Cote’s law license should be suspended for 45 days for comments he made in news articles and TV programs about the 2005 disappearance of two Grosse Pointe lawyers on a boating trip. Cote works for two firms: Wilingham & Cote and Siebers & Mohney.
The board said Cote volunteered legal service to the family of Charles Rutherford Jr., then portrayed him as a possible suspect. The board also said Cote has to tell the media outlets about his suspension and ask television shows that his comments be removed from any rebroadcasts.
“Obviously, I’m very disappointed,” Cote said, adding that he is considering an appeal to the full discipline board.
He said an appeal would delay the notification requirement and the suspension, which is slated to start July 17.
Rutherford and Lana Stempien went missing in Lake Huron, and her cabin cruiser was found abandoned and idling the next day. Stempien’s body was found two days later, but Rutherford remained missing.
Human remains were found near Cheboygan during the Memorial Day weekend. Tests to identify them are pending.
By: Pyrite on July 10, 2008
at 9:46 pm
The attorney was an advocate but acted more as a judge and particularly more as a judge for the tabloids. His punishment was perhaps excessive but an advocate is not supposed to act in such a manner. However, it must be remembered, that none of the suspended-attorney’s actions, have anything to do with an analysis of the boating accident and all took place afterwards.
By: Fools Gold on August 6, 2008
at 5:37 am
I completely think he is alive and well. Most likely living in some remote part of Canada where his family can see him easily and often – like Pelee Island or something like that.
By: suspicious on August 13, 2008
at 8:00 am
My hypothesis: Mr R overheard Ms S’s phone call to the “other guy.” S was probably lying in the cabin naked (it was just the two of them on a romantic weekend) with her jewelry on (explains why she had the jewelry on when her body was found). She may fallen asleep shortly after the phone call.
R became enraged with jealousy (1. there had been earlier reports of heated arguments between the two. 2. People said he was infatuated with her in a “clinging” way. It’s amazing what insanely jealous men will do 3. he found she was going to Boston to visit a man.).
In a rage, R closed off the cabin on the sleeping S and tried to kill her with carbon monoxide (carb. monox. was found in her lungs). Then, I believe, he drove the boat out into the remote, deep, cold waters of Lk. Huron and threw her overboard. She may have partially awakened and put up an ineffective struggle (Officials say there were no signs of a struggle, but the shoe lodged in the GPS device is telling.)
Then, in a panic, he drove the boat to near the shore where the boat was found, and he abandoned it. (He was in a blind panic possibly fueled by vodka [an empty bottle was found on board] so he left the boat idling with the stereo on. He probably turned on the GPS and deleted data in an effort to cover his tracks. He wasn’t very rational.(Someone had to drive the boat to the northwest–it wouldn’t drift there against the prevailing current while in neutral, and somebody had to put it into neutral once it was there). R drove it there, put it into neutral, and scrambled ashore in a remote area, leaving the boat adrift.
A swimming accident is out of the question (expensive jewelry still on, no swimming ladder down, very cold water).
Knowing the potential consequences, he couldn’t reveal himself. However, he is hiding out a living somewhere near his family.
I believe he is in touch with his family–they were in too much of a hurry to have him pronounced dead (so he can no longer be brought to trial!), and they were “relieved” when the judge pronounced R dead. Plus, the R family refused to allow anyone from the S family into their house. AND they rebuffed S’s father’s pleas to work together to find the kids. Wouldn’t they want to do whatever it takes to find them? Sound suspicious? It does to me. (Parents never believe their kid did anything wrong and will hide them if necessary.)
I believe the blue bumpers are not a major player, although I have no explanation for them. The Coasties didn’t find them, and witnesses sometimes make mistakes, so who knows? Plus, sometimes “evidence” is irrelevant to a case anyway.
Anyway, that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!
By: J. King on October 16, 2008
at 11:27 am
To: Fool’s Gold
Re: “Is Mr. Colwell, above, suggesting that Attorney Rutherford abandoned his higly successful law practice and identity in order to start over as a pauper in Virginia?”
I don’t believe Mr Rutherford would’ve given up his practice by choice, but I think he has to lay low because he is guilty of her murder, which he committed in a jealous rage. If I were the authorities, I’d obtain search warrants for the house R and S lived in, and I’d subpoena R’s parents’ cell phone records to look for calls from R around the time of the incident. (I’m convinced that R’s parents are collaborating with his efforts to hide, and that they are feeding him cash to live on. See my earlier post.)
I’d also check out Mr. Colwell’s assertion that R is living in Warrenton, VA; it’d be easy to check, and if Mr. Colwell is mistaken, well, nothing lost.
By: J. King on October 20, 2008
at 8:23 am
You don’t think the police are keeping some sort of tabs on The Rutherford’s phone records and travels? I do. J. King that is a ridiculous story you have concocted. God forbid you ever have kids that get slotted into the Charles Rutherford slot of this story. Its disgusting that both of these families lost kids but people keep accusing him of foul play. Its down right shameful!
By: Scott on November 10, 2008
at 12:21 pm
I saw the story on this and I must admit, it looks like foul play to me. (just my opinion). But, I’m sticking to it.
By: Deathstare on November 10, 2008
at 12:33 pm
I believe strongly that “accident” is not one of the few choices available here. I feel that an accident is ruled out only because of the GPS. I’m not a boater and don’t know much about GPS systems, but if it had to be turned on manually, this would bring on two basic scenarios which could have happened in multiple ways.
The first is that Chuck ended Lana’s life for whatever reason, and has now escaped. Chuck could have murdered Lana made up a host of excuses as to what had happened to her and gone on with his life. This first version could be put to rest by investigation into the Rutherford family because contact of some sort would have eventually been made. Follow the money and the communications.
The facts, as we see them on the various forms of media, may not be right, altering our perception of this mystery. The Rutherfords purported “rush” to have their son declared dead, may simply have been their need to move on, and the acceptance that he would not be coming back regardless of what happened. Unfortunately this attitude and how their relationship with the Stempiens was portrayed in the media, creates additional questions.
He may have ended Lana’s life as well as his own. Finding Chuck’s body would have been convenient, but Huron an awfully large lake. Chuck did nothing to Lana. This is a crime that Chuck could not have made up and got away with as an impulse as some have theorized. Even if he had planned this, there would be too many ways to get caught – and just disappear? I’m not sure he had the nautical sophistication. I believe Chuck and Lana were victims and the GPS is the one mistake, necessary as it might have been, that the perpetrator(s) made.
Just one side note. If the police had followed up on clients and cases that each of the attorneys were working on, and also impounded the boat immediately, at the very least, other more diabolical scenarios could be eliminated. But his isn’t T.V. and the investigators do as much as they can with the limited resources they have.
Scenario number two, and what I believe to be the case, involves a third party. Although I think that there were two to three persons in the offending party, even if there was just one, it really doesn’t change the key points of how August 11th 2005 unraveled for Chuck and Lana and why the involvement of the GPS will help solve this case.
During one of Lana’s calls, she said that they would be at their destination in two hours if I remember right. I believe that after that last call was made, Chuck and Lana, crossed the path of a boat in distress, smaller without a GPS system. This boat would have been drifting southwest along the coast if their engine was inoperable. Shortly after that, things went horribly wrong. Chuck was the first to go as his size made him more intimidating. They held onto Lana for awhile trying to figure out what to do. She may have jumped or been thrown over, regardless, she entered the water. Even in August, offshore the water does not get warm enough to encourage a swim. The perpetrators now have a working boat and slowly tow their own craft back to the area of Bois Blanc Island. Why here? Because this was roughly the area where the GPS was turned on, and the key to how to find these people. If nothing was stolen, the engine was left running, the lights off, and GPS on, one might believe that they were washed over or drowned while swimming, and this is what the assailants want us to believe, but this is not the case.
When they had command of the Sea’s Life, and brought it back up the Michigan coast to the Bois Blanc Island area, night had fallen. Remember, as my theory goes, they were towing another vessel so the trip may have taken much longer bringing them into the evening hours. This creates an enormous problem for them. At this point if they are not back into very familiar territory, they essentially will be lost along the northern Michigan coast on the boat of two people that will soon be reported missing. They can’t be seen on this craft and the sun might be up in a matter of hours. As my theory continues, they make a call to a party on land (at least one of them has a cell phone and they are now within tower range) who has a boat and will come out to meet them. As far as this party on land knows, his friends are simply on their own boat which is having engine problems. He asks them where exactly they are and at this point they make the necessary decision of turning on the GPS to give him the exact coordinates. He would plug in their location and have no trouble finding them. If they don’t do this, their friend may not be able to find them until daylight. Even experienced boaters get lost at night as there are not many distinguishing landmarks in the darkness to give bearing to. Remember, they need to get off of “Sea’s Life” soon.
If someone comes out to pick them up, they would probably need the correct coordinates and that would mean communication was made with shore and that more than likely would take place via cell phone. If, and here is the big if, the phone service providers in the area would give the information of all cell phone calls made off of the cell towers located within that area at between 12 and 3 am. in the morning, this could possibly give a clue as to who is involved with this. This was the evening of August 11th 2005, which is a Thursday. From midnight to 3 a.m. Friday there could not have been a tremendous number of calls – not at that time, in the middle of the week, in that location, even in a vacation area.
The GPS was switched on because the murders were lost and beginning to panic.
Another variation would be that they turned the GPS on, pulled the boat back to their familiar port, towed a small motor boat out two or 3 miles and left Sea’s Life to drift in the current. This could explain the short tow rope with the blue buoys. Blue bumpers in the dark water would be easy to forget about.
If there is any substance to my speculation, the third party didn’t make many mistakes, but the GPS activation, possible calls to the mainland or Bois Blanc Island, and the the tow rope and bumpers if they in fact were present, could be three of them.
I have explanations for some of the nagging details throughout but decided to present the short version.
Just another theory.
By: David Y on December 26, 2008
at 9:36 pm
If you look at the Dateline show there is a scene where they are flipping through a photo album that seems to be an evidence book. There are pictures of Lana’s shoe with the knob embedded into it. The knob struck me as looking very odd because it is driven into the shoe almost level. The knob is almost perfectly centered left to right in the arch of the shoe. The black plastic knob doesn’t look like it was scuffed as if it where stomped on or whacked into the shoe. It looks like someone methodically pushed or screwed the knob into the sole of the shoe. It really does not look like something that would happen in a struggle.
By: Nobody on March 2, 2009
at 10:49 pm
I think I have read elsewhere that the GPS system starts over writing information after its memory is full. I think that explains the mysterious GPS switching on at 1:36 am?
I have also read that the police found their clothes and money laying on the deck in a normal fashion. “Money was in the wallet. Clothes were laying on the deck,” is what the detective says. It is not stated if Chucks clothes were there on the deck as well, but this is bad journalism and perhaps an attempt by Dateline to “create a scandalous story”. They could have been more clear about that point.
Also the weather was bad… “Coast Guard officials said waves were 4-5 feet when Stempien and Rutherford disappeared, and the wind was at 20 knots, or about 23 miles per hour, out of the southeast.”
I have read follow up stories where two women boaters claim to have seen the boat drifting and saw a second boat speed off in the distance. This account is sketchy and not consistently reported. I think this aspect of the story can be thrown out until it is documented by a credible source.
I have read that Chuck was seen by some random guy beating Lana weeks earlier. This too seems inconsistently reported and also sketchy to me.
The blue bumper sighting is odd but it can be explained. The family is certain that she never had blue bumpers.They claimed to have called around and tracked all of her purchases. How would they really know that? She could have bought them and stored them on the boat. She could have bought them anywhere along their trip. I am 40 years old and I can buy a lot of things that my family would never really know or notice. The family tries to portray her as sheltered, under their watchful eye at all times, certain that she never made any mistakes, always checked in with her parents. I don’t want to trash on her but give me a break already. She was a 35 year old attractive, partying, single, female, lawyer not a 12 year old girl scout.
The line was out behind the boat in an un-boater like fashion. This is odd.
Here is what I find odd about this story:
The knob in the shoe. Was it a tool, a weapon?
The rope behind the boat combined with the blue bumpers. Who or what was being pulled behind?
The carbon monoxide found in Lana. Was she trying to fish Chuck out of the water after falling over in rough seas? Was she being pulled along behind the boat inhaling fumes?
Or
They were fooling around unclothed, listening to music on the radio, a storm sweeps in and catches them by surprise. They try to navigate the boat out of rough seas but get knocked over board. One tries to quickly rescue the other — perhaps one of them has to dive in to try and pull the other up. Maybe they throw out a line or blue bumpers as a rescue attempt. Lana may have been the one who was trying to save a drowning Chuck. She could have been frantically working at the rear of the boat to try and find Chuck in the water and inhaling carbon monoxide. In the end both drown in a failed rescue attempt.
For me the shoe is the only odd item. Why is the knob embedded in it. Why is the heel of her shoe torn? What was that shoe used for? Would you ever take a rope and make a stirrup loop at the end of it, take your shoe, push a knob into the arch to act as a kind of cleat so the rope doesn’t slip off the foot? Could the shoe have been used as a handle at the end of a tow-rope. A heel of a shoe could be ripped if you put both hands on either side of the shoe opening and pulled it apart hard. What kind of activity would require that kind of motion? I think figuring out the function of the shoe is important to the case.
By: Nobody on March 3, 2009
at 9:23 pm
Interesting web site about the dangers of carbon monoxide to boaters:
http://www.carbonmonoxidekills.com/boats.htm
Excerpt:
Associated Press
CLEARWATER, Fla. – Three people on a fishing trip were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes as they napped below deck, and required medical attention when the boat returned to shore, officials said.
There were nine people on the 40-foot Wellcraft cabin cruiser when it left for an approximately five-hour fishing trip, said Joel Gray, the Clearwater fire marshal.
After the boat returned to the dock shortly after noon on Sunday, the three people – a young woman and two men – couldn’t be awakened, Gray said.
Rescue crews determined they had suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. Though officials said the gas likely came from the boat’s diesel motor, they were investigating how it entered the cabin.
The three victims, who were not identified, were first taken to Morton Plant Hospital, then transferred to another medical facility so they could be treated in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, rescue officials said.
The victims’ conditions and the name and location of the second medical facility were not given.
By: Nobody on March 5, 2009
at 4:13 pm
This is the first time I’m hearing of the case as I saw it on Dateline -Channel ID. The first thing that came to my mind about tht blue bumpers, the carbon monoxide levels, Chuck’s jealousy & the phone call from another man…….He’s in a jealous rage and to “punish her” for keeping in contact with another man while on a romantic vacation with him, physically forces her into the cold water hanging onto the blue bumpers. Pulls up the swimming ladder because she’s not coming back onto the boat until he decides. She’s breathing in the carbon monoxide and drowns. Now he’s in trouble…being a lawyer he realizes how bad this looks for him and has to cover his tracks. He needs time to think an shuts off the GPS. Decides to make it look as though it was an accident. Knows he needs to disappear to avoid prosecution. I believe his family knows he’s alive and are assisting him financially. I think it’s very strange that they petitioned the court to prounounce Chuck deceased. It also seems very odd to me that parents of a missing son would treat his girlfriend’s family with such disrespect regarding her belongings and not letting them into the house! Is that why they wanted him pronounced dead? so, that they could control the home & everything in it? Potentially getting rid of or destroying evidence that could prove him to have violent tendancies…. Possibly a diary of Lana’s or emails, letters, etc.
With Lana’s autopsy catagorized as an accident & Chuck prounounced dead..what are the consequences if he shows up 5 yrs from now? Anyone know the answer? If he does show up in the future will he claim amnesia?????
By: curious about CSI on April 11, 2009
at 6:52 pm
I agree with curious about csi, except that she may have been dragged along using the bumpers and worked her way back up to the boat where she inhaled the CO2 for a long period of time before wearing down and finally drowning.
But, Chuck is roaming around the world someplace and being financed by his parents. Once he was declared dead they had access to the proceeds of his life insurance and funds, etc.
By: ron on July 9, 2009
at 4:29 pm
who manufactured the blue flotation devises??? how much gas was in the tank??? why didn’t the cops investigate??? was a vaginal check done? did she have rope burns on her hands??? why were these questions not answered? cover up??
By: watson on July 10, 2009
at 1:28 am
Life is never as it seems and his parents are trying awful hard to cover something. The shoe thing who knows, but his parents actions are undoubtedly suspicious, That cannot be denied. With access to his finances how hard would it be to send him money? It’s not like they send it Via.Chuck Rutherford Jr. USPS, If you just blindly believe what a detective that has not even talked to Chucks associates says, also one that has basically closed the case and is following up on nothing then you are but a pawn in societies quest to reveal only what it wants. keep sleeping.
By: Chad on July 11, 2009
at 3:27 pm
If Chuck killed her, how did he get to shore, long swim I’ll bet.
By: 67namvet on November 24, 2009
at 11:20 pm