Aug 3, 2026 · 29 min · 12 segments
In this episode of Dead on Earth, host Kerrith McDowell sits down with Shane Kiel to explore the devastating memory of attempting to rescue a young girl from drowning in the ocean—an act of humanity…
Shane KielGuestKarith McDowellHost
So it was one of those things where you feel like a failure, right? And then I kept thinking to myself, well, if I didn't do anything, how would I have felt about it, right? Like if I just stood there and did nothing, but then I was rationalizing in my head, well, if I did nothing, I wouldn't see her face anytime I want to see it.
It was probably one of the hardest things that I went through because of all of the regret of thinking constantly in my head, well, what if I did this? And what if I did that? I had a therapist a long time ago who...
said to me one of the greatest things i've ever heard in my life it was about my parents who are great people um but it was like you know therapists dig into your family and all that other stuff his question to me was way back then he said do you think your parents could have done more and i go yeah 100 and he goes no he goes because if they could have they would have And so I kept trying to think in my brain, if I could have done something more, I would have, you know what I mean? And I gave it everything that I had and everything that I have should be good enough.
And unfortunately for her, It was just God's will of the way it intended for her to be.
I don't know what lessons there are for her family or for anybody or whatever, but I just constantly had to think like, for me, this was about, I did as much as I could.
But I can say I was the one person who jumped in to try and do something so I can feel good that I made the effort.
What are some feelings around the grief that you've experienced for a stranger? I
think it would have obviously been difficult if it was someone closer to me, 100%.
But I don't think it mattered to me because... it's a human being, right? And it's somebody else's child.
And there was a lot of grief about that because I just felt like this was somebody special to somebody and I had the opportunity to take care of it and I wasn't able to.
And I really, I'll be honest with you, like, I almost wanted to just talk to her parents to just say, like, I'm sorry.
So it was one of those things where you feel like a failure, right? And then I kept thinking to myself, well, if I didn't do anything, how would I have felt about it, right? Like if I just stood there and did nothing, but then I was rationalizing in my head, well, if I did nothing, I wouldn't see her face anytime I want to see it.
It was probably one of the hardest things that I went through because of all of the regret of thinking constantly in my head, well, what if I did this? And what if I did that? I had a therapist a long time ago who...
said to me one of the greatest things i've ever heard in my life it was about my parents who are great people um but it was like you know therapists dig into your family and all that other stuff his question to me was way back then he said do you think your parents could have done more and i go yeah 100 and he goes no he goes because if they could have they would have And so I kept trying to think in my brain, if I could have done something more, I would have, you know what I mean? And I gave it everything that I had and everything that I have should be good enough.
And unfortunately for her, It was just God's will of the way it intended for her to be.
I don't know what lessons there are for her family or for anybody or whatever, but I just constantly had to think like, for me, this was about, I did as much as I could.
But I can say I was the one person who jumped in to try and do something so I can feel good that I made the effort.
What are some feelings around the grief that you've experienced for a stranger? I
think it would have obviously been difficult if it was someone closer to me, 100%.
But I don't think it mattered to me because... it's a human being, right? And it's somebody else's child.
And there was a lot of grief about that because I just felt like this was somebody special to somebody and I had the opportunity to take care of it and I wasn't able to.
And I really, I'll be honest with you, like, I almost wanted to just talk to her parents to just say, like, I'm sorry.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
