The long and painful search for a 17-year-old Eagle Scout who was swept away in the 2018 Montecito flash flooding and debris flows has ended with his remains being located, his mother revealed Thursday.
Jack Cantin was among those who died in the Jan. 9, 2018, flooding that devastated Montecito and claimed 23 lives. Jack, and a 2-year-old neighbor, Lydia Sutthithepa, were the only victims still missing from the disaster.
Kim Cantin, Jack’s mother, said her son’s remains were found and recovered around Memorial Day less than a mile from the family’s Hot Springs Road home, which was destroyed.
“All my mama fibers in my body said he didn’t go to the ocean, and I knew he didn’t,” Cantin said.
The news of the discovery was withheld to allow time for lab analysis and the quest to find additional remains, she added.
Cantin said the exact location where Jack’s remains were found is “sacred ground” and will not be revealed.
KEYT News was the first to report the discovery.
Cantin’s husband, Dave, also died in the debris flow; his body was recovered that morning on the beach near the mouth of Montecito Creek. The family’s Irish setter, Chester, also died.
Cantin and her then-14-year-old daughter, Lauren, were both severely injured by the massive debris flow, which was triggered by torrential rain after the December 2017 Thomas Fire that denuded the mountains above Montecito.
Jack was a popular Santa Barbara High School junior, an Eagle Scout and an active parishioner at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church just up the street from his house. Two months after the disaster, his memorial service at the Santa Barbara Mission drew an overflow crowd of mourners and supporters.
Search crews and volunteers spent 3½ years scouring a 110-acre zone for the remains of Jack and Lydia, whose family lived about 150 yards upstream on Montecito Creek from the Cantins in the voluntary evacuation zone below East Valley Road.
“It was the love of all the people, whoever they were, who helped along the way,” Cantin told KEYT. “If it was neighbors providing access on property, if it was the Bucket Brigade, if it was my sacred search team which was about seven people who would come out with me all the time for three and a half years. And, Santa Barbara (County) Search and Rescue.”
She also credited the UC Santa Barbara Anthropology Department and Danielle Kurin, a forensic biologic anthropologist and assistant professor in the department.
Those wanting to honor Jack with flowers can visit the Santa Barbara Cemetery, 901 Channel Drive, at the Linda Vista west location, plot number 462.
“The amazing thing is, I will have Jack to bury at the cemetery next to his father, with dignity, so that I can have closure,” Cantin said. “My family can have closure. Jack’s friends can have closure. And, the community can have closure.
“I know this community was amazing and everyone was rooting and praying that we’d find these kids.”
Thursday afternoon, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement saying it had been made aware of the reported discovery of Jack’s remains.
The office issued the following statement:
“The Sheriff / Coroner’s Office received, and is in the process of reviewing, a one-page ‘Fast Fact Forensic Report’ prepared by a UCSB anthropologist, Dr. Danielle Kurin, that was referenced in today’s news story. In the ‘Fast Fact’ report, she opined that the remains ‘are consistent with those of Jack Cantin,’ and that she is ‘over 90% certain that these remains are those of Jack Cantin.’
Coroner’s investigators are seeking the full report from Kurin, according to sheriff’s spokewoman Raquel Zick.
“Once obtained, it will be reviewed as part of the ongoing investigation,” she said. “In the meantime, the case of Jack Cantin’s disappearance remains open. We will continue to work closely with the Cantin family on this case, as we have since the day he disappeared.”
— This story includes reporting by Beth Farnsworth of KEYT News. Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.