The man who won last year’s Goodyear Highway Hero award is now searching for the family he saved.

Trucker Rick Dent of Diana, TX, is looking for Bob Strickland and his two children, Megan and Paul. Dent is credited with saving the family after Strickland swerved to miss a deer. The Stricklands’ car went off the road into 6-feet-deep water along U.S. Highway 84 near Jena, LA, on July 14, 2004.

Dent was driving his truck when he saw the family’s car veer into the water. He stopped his truck, dove into the deep, snake-infested water, and ripped the car’s door off its hinges to help the family escape.

Unfortunately, Dent lost touch with the family after the incident. He would now like to reunite with them, but has had no luck locating the family.

“Everything happened so fast that day,” Dent said in a press release. “My only regret is not keeping in touch with Bob and his family. It would be a wonderful experience to talk with them. I would especially like to see Megan, who was three, but talked like a grown-up. She’s a pistol.”

A representative for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” on which Dent is scheduled to appear, said she also had no luck tracking down the family.

Anyone with information on the Strickland family’s whereabouts can e-mail information to dfwilkins@goodyear.com or call the Goodyear Highway Hero hotline at (330) 796-8183.