Human Remains Found Amid Fossett Wreck

Wreckage Of Millionaire Adventurer's Plane Located In Calif. Mountains; He Went Missing Over A Year Ago

(CBS/ AP)  Federal investigators say they have found body parts amid the wreckage of a missing adventurer's airplane in the in California's rugged Sierra Nevada just over a year after the he vanished on a solo flight. The craft appears to have hit the mountainside head-on, authorities said Thursday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said that searchers found enough at the crash site of Steve Fossett's plane to provide coroners with DNA.

National Transportation Safety Board acting Chairman Mark Rosenker won't say exactly what searchers found. But he says it was not surprising how little they uncovered, considering how long it had been since the crash.

Most of the plane's fuselage disintegrated on impact, and the engine was found several hundred feet away at an elevation of 9,700 feet, authorities said.

"It was a hard-impact crash, and he would've died instantly," said Jeff Page, emergency management coordinator for Lyon County, Nev., who assisted the search.

Crews conducting an aerial search late Wednesday spotted what turned out to be the wreckage in the Inyo National Forest near the town of Mammoth Lakes, Sheriff John Anderson said. They confirmed around 11 p.m. that the tail number found matched Fossett's single-engine Bellanca plane, he said.

The NTSB would bring in a private contractor to help with recovery of the airplane, Rosenker said. "It will take weeks, perhaps months, to get a better understanding of what happened," he said.

Fossett, 63, disappeared on Sept. 3, 2007, after taking off in a plane he borrowed from a Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton. A judge declared Fossett legally dead in February following a search for the famed aviator that covered 20,000 square miles.

Searchers began combing the rugged terrain on Wednesday, two days after a hiker found Fossett's identification. The wreckage was found about a quarter-mile from where hiker Preston Morrow made his discovery Monday.

The IDs provided the first possible clue about Fossett's whereabouts since he vanished.

"I remember the day he crashed, there were large thunderheads over the peaks around us," Mono County Undersheriff Ralph Obenberger said, gesturing to the mountains flanking Mammoth Lakes.

Aviators had previously flown over Mammoth Lakes, about 90 miles south of the ranch, in the search for Fossett, but it had not been considered a likely place to find the plane.

The most intense searching was concentrated north of the town, given what searchers knew about sightings of Fossett's plane, his plans for when he had intended to return and the amount of fuel he had in the plane.

A judge declared Fossett, 63 when he disappeared, legally dead in February following a search for the famed aviator that covered 20,000 square miles.

Sir Richard Branson, one of Fossett's friends, told CBS' The Early Show that he was heartened by the latest developments.

"The good news is that I hope this will put a rest to the stories that have been going around once and for all and give everybody who was close to Steve a chance to pay the right tributes to an absolutely great and extraordinary man," Branson said.

In a statement, Fossett's widow offered thanks to Morrow and searchers on the ground and said she was anxious to learn from investigators the cause and circumstances of the crash.

Peggy Fossett said the discovery of the plane's wreckage may bring her some relief after enduring more than a year of uncertainty about her husband's fate.

"I hope now to be able to bring to closure a very painful chapter in my life," she said. "I prefer to think about Steve's life rather than his death and celebrate his many extraordinary accomplishments."

Fossett made a fortune trading futures and options on Chicago markets. He gained worldwide fame for more than 100 attempts and successes in setting records in high-tech balloons, gliders, jets and boats. In 2002, he became the first person to circle the world solo in a balloon. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in July 2007.

He also swam the English Channel, completed an Ironman Triathlon, competed in the Iditarod dog sled race and climbed some of the world's best-known peaks, including the Matterhorn in Switzerland and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

[help2008-2009]

Probably. That or listening to a stock report.

[brianbwb-2009]

"The hiker, Preston Morrow, said he found a pilot''s license, a glider license, a third ID and $1,005 in cash..."

And this dummy turned the cash in? Whoever he turns it over to will just pocket it anyway, he should have kept his mouth shut about it.

[slim1h2o]

I was thinking the same thing brianbwb. I''m usually in favor of being honest in those types of situations, but, with the economy the way it is, and the theiving P.O.S. in government, we need all the help we can get.

[lewiston14]

They only text in cars, trucks, and trains that we know of so far. Fossete was not a dummy.

[g-gfather]

brainbwb

You are a very disappointing human being.

Great-Grandfather, for the children.

[nojoy01]

"The hiker, Preston Morrow, said he found a pilot''''s license, a glider license, a third ID and $1,005 in cash..."

And this dummy turned the cash in? Whoever he turns it over to will just pocket it anyway, he should have kept his mouth shut about it.

Posted by brianbwb at 05:32 AM : Oct 02, 2008

It''s always nice to meet someone who is honest about being a thief. None of this crybaby crud about it being somebody else''s fault.

[nojoy01]

I was thinking the same thing brianbwb. I''''m usually in favor of being honest in those types of situations, but, with the economy the way it is, and the theiving P.O.S. in government, we need all the help we can get.

Posted by slim1h2o at 05:55 AM : Oct 02, 2008

See what I mean? Slim1h2o''s excuse is the economy & corrupt politicians, whereas brianbwb is just being honest about it.

[slim1h2o]

See what I mean? Slim1h2o''''s excuse is the economy & corrupt politicians, whereas brianbwb is just being honest about it.


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Posted by nojoy01 at 07:24 AM : Oct 02, 2008

Did you work at being stupid, or does it come naturally?

You shouldn''t call someone a thief, when you don''t know them.

When Richard Branson arrives in Mammoth Lakes this will receive the publicity it deserves.

[sentry88]

brainbwb There are some good honest people left in this world but alas i take it by your posting ,your not one of them.Mr. Morrow did the right thing, not taking a deadmans belongings.

[nojoy01]

Did you work at being stupid, or does it come naturally?

You shouldn''''t call someone a thief, when you don''''t know them.

Posted by slim1h2o at 07:32 AM : Oct 02, 2008

I''m not the one who''s stupid. YOU are the one who said they would take money that doesn''t belong to them. I don''t have to know you personally to know that you said you were a thief. You told on yourself, & now you''re mad at someone else for mentioning it? I like brianbwb better, he''s honest

[barbaraf4]

This is certainly another exciting chapter in the story of a bigger-than-life-man. What a wonderful way to live and I suspect if he were given the choice, the way to die.

My question: Why was he declared dead only 5 months after his disappearance? I thought it was a 7 year wait. If you are a poor mother of 2, trying to survive without life insurance until the 7 year milestone, how are you different from a wildly rich beyond belief widow who needs her husband''s fortune released?

[puzzler125]

He''s a dummy for turning in the cash? How could a person pocket it now since it has been officially documented? I find car keys, cell phones, and wallets (and also the occasional lost child). Does that make me stupid? No, I think it makes me far more honorable than you sound! (...and if I had found the $1,050? You can be *** sure I would have turned it in too!)

[slim1h2o]

Well, I guess reading comprehension is on everybody''s "wish list".

[mark46n]

I''m pretty sure the guy that found the money and id''s will get a lot more then $1,050 if they find Mr. Fossett. He did the right thing turning in the money.

[dagrandma]

Geez, I thought this was supposed to be for posts about Steve Fossett. I didn''t know it was supposed to be about a lousy $1000 and name calling.

Puzzler125, no it doesn''t make you stupid, just a person who can''t be trusted, which is much worse. That money can probably help determine what might have happened, because it is part of the investigation. You are not an honorable person, who probably cheats at solitaire.

[jn122736]

Reporting the money as well as the ID documents could be important in this case, and not just from an honesty standpoint.

The money would be strong evidence that wild creatures devoured Fossett%u2019s remains, rather than being robbed and killed.

If he died on impact, a large animal such as a puma or bear, could have dragged his body away, or he could have survived long enough to walk some distance away from the crash site before collapsing and eventually being devoured by carrion eaters.

BTW, Mr. Morrow will actually gain far more than $1,005 from TV appearances and interviews.

Sky_Five, yeah, you probably would. You just proved to everyone on here that Sky_Five is a weasel.

jn122736, very well put. That man will be looked up to as an honorable and honest person. He already admitted he didn''t even know the person at first, he was doing the right thing from the get go.

[lewiston14]

Now having positive ID on the person and the plane maybe the NTSB will take a good look at things. They are very good at figuring things out like what happened in the first place.

[momofdaisy]

I hope that the family gives Mr. Morrow a reward. He is an honorable man. The world needs more people like him.

[mccaino8nc]

That is crazy we have a report of an ending to tragic situation for a family and there are some sick people that want to post their political bigotry on this blog sad!!!!!!!

[mccaino8nc]

As to my thoughts of the Preston Marrow he is an honorable man and I garantee if you ask him he doesn''t want a reward. And I would almost bet he will donate to charity if he gets it.

[candy-apple]

It only took a judge five months to declare him dead? Isn''t there usually a waiting period for that sort of thing? Why the rush??

[mediawatch50]

Mammoth Lakes is about 65 miles south of where Fossett took off from, not 90 miles as stated in the article. The weather in Mammoth Lakes on September 3, 2007 was good: 80 degrees, clear skies, light winds. Mr. Fossett was a very experienced pilot. It''s possible that he suffered a medical incident, or that he merely misjudged the terrain and the performance of his aircraft. Due to the severity of the impact, I''m leaning towards the idea that the airplane was not under his control when it hit the mountain. Sad.

[random_radar]

It is unlikely that Steve Fossett would have crashed into the side of a mountain on a clear day. Since no body was found, it is more likely he parachuted out and let the plane crash.

Even though we are getting a lot more evidence, the evidence increasingly points to a disappearance rather than a death. All the pieces are there, but Fossett''s friends and government officials continue to try to jamb them together in the wrong jigsaw puzzle solution.

[lewiston14]

Candy if there is a required waiting period it has to be followed or you got a judge in big trouble now.

As far as Mr. Morrow being a good guy or a bad guy maybe he should have just left the things where he saw them. Sometimes doing the right thing is worse then doing nothing. And the saga continues.

[danhend57]

Does anyone have the aviation weather from Mammoth Lakes for the date he disappeared?

[danhend57]

Does anyone have the aviation weather from Mammoth Lakes for the date he disappeared?

The more I think about this the more I believe that he is alive. He had a lot of wealth and wealthy friends and may have wanted to disappear because of personal problems and girlfriends. Follow the money and the girlfriends and they will find Fossett. A body does not leave an impact of this type.

[usmcvn1]

Maybe He was shot down by "UFOs" and is now a "POW".

[misssuzq]

Wonder what stories Branson was referring to?

[inglind]

If the plane burned on impact, so would his clothes, wallet and contents. Since they are not mentioning human remains at the crash site, one can''t help wonder if he didn''t bailout, planned or not.

[slim1h2o]

Has anyone stop and asked, Why did a millionaire have that much money on him?

When you are that rich, you don''t need to carry that much. And if he wanted to buy something expensive, he could have purchased whatever on his credit card. Most rich people I have seen never carried any more than a few bucks on them. (cash)

So, he was in a plane flying with no discernable destination, with 1005.00, not exactly a lot of money, but more than the average person would carry, what was he up to?

Buying drugs? He sounds like a drug runner to me. In a plane with lots of money, and no flight charts.

Very suspicious, Indeed.

[meinnv]

According to CNN.com:

"He was carrying a bottle of water and had no parachute.

He had planned to fly over the Nevada desert for two to three hours and was expected to return for lunch at the ranch, owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton."

Unless there was a parachute in the small plane, the theory that he parachuted out would be ruled out. It is possible he might have survived the crash, but with bears and other animals, his remains might never be recovered. Large animals tend to over power humans quite quickly, and if he was injured, he had no chance.

Judging by the picture on CNN.com, it is unlikely he would have survived. Usually when a plane hits a mountain, the survival rate is low if not non-existant.

I had a cousin who had crashed into the mountain (several years before I was born), and I dont think his remains were recovered, if there were any. A witness saw him get into the plane, take off and hit the mountain, then again that was in bad weather, and don''t ask me why he flew, he was an obstinate person and had been warned.

But, I believe in all certainly, Mr. Fossett might not have survived. However his disappearance is going to be a mystery until his remains are found. I do hope for his family''s sake there is some closure or some way of finding out once and for all what happened to this man.

[lewiston14]

Im not sure how good DNA testing is today but the id''s and plane should have both. Give the officals time to sort it out. Fire is out of the question as the id''s and money were in bad shape but not burned.

[meinnv]

It does seem a little odd to have that much cash on him for a simple "pleasure flight". I tend to carry very little cash, even when I have errands to run and try to pay all of my bills online with a pre-paid debit card (the ones I can). Then again that is just me.

One of my friends never carries any cash, and only relies on credit & debit cards. So, go figure.

The cash might have been in his wallet, and since he was planning to come back, he didn''t see the need to leave it behind. Or, he might have been in an area where stores don''t take credit cards. I know some towns have stores that don''t take credit. He was visiting the small town, so that will be something for investigators to follow up on.

[airboatboy1]

meinnv, that amount of money would be nothing for him to carry around. I''m sure investigators would not even think about it. Are you looking for a conspiracy theory?

[lewiston14]

airboatboy1 Is correct. $1000 is chump change these days. Even for many people.

[meinnv]

Given the location of the area, I doubt the money was for fuel for a return trip. According to this:

"Fossett took off with enough fuel for four to five hours of flight, according to Civil Air Patrol spokesperson Maj. Cynthia S. Ryan."

I live in Southern Nevada, and there is not much north of us, basically Northern Nevada is considered "remote" and mostly "dangerous". So, if it was a simple pleasure flight, he might have had enough fuel to take off, fly around, and fly back.

If you go to wikipedia.org and look this incident up, you will also find out that our govenor had tried to ask for some of the money that went into the search. Barron Hilton put up $200,000; yet when Mr. Fossett''s widow was asked, she declined.

"The Nevada search cost $1.6 million, for Silver State, "the largest search and rescue effort ever conducted for a person within the U.S." Jim Gibbons asked Peggy Fossett to shoulder $487,000 but she declined."

So, I wonder how financially sound the Fossett''s were. I am not saying everyone should have to pay a state back for their efforts, but if the Fossetts were wealthy and since she had her husband declared dead on 5 months later, what would be the harm in her paying something back to a state they didn''t even reside in?? Just a thought, and maybe something for investigators to consider as to a motive for his disappearance.

[meinnv]

meinnv, that amount of money would be nothing for him to carry around. I''''m sure investigators would not even think about it. Are you looking for a conspiracy theory?


Posted by airboatboy1

Not at all. Was responding to someone before me who thought it was odd. If we was that wealthy it would be nothing for him to carry it around as I had said "The cash might have been in his wallet, and since he was planning to come back, he didn''''t see the need to leave it behind. Or, he might have been in an area where stores don''''t take credit cards."

It is certainly something for investigators to consider, but nothing for a conspiracy theory. I don''t get into those. I belive in facts and evidence, perhaps a theory around the facts and evidence. But, I am saying that we all handle our "money" differently. Some carry cash, some don''t. To each their own, but it should be carefully considered by investigators. It might be a clue, it might not be.

[lewiston14]

Slim come on now a drug runner. That is a stretch.

[meinnv]

In all honestly, I don''t see the problem either. We each have our preferences, but the amount of cash should be taken into consideration with an investigation. IT MIGHT HAVE A MEANING, IT MIGHT HAVE NO MEANING. Just something to consider.

I like to have minimal cash on hand for safety reasons. I only have $29 until I get paid next week, and most of it is going to be spent on groceries today. Some people prefer cash, some prefer credit.

I was only try to state that he might have not even be aware he had it, or didn''t want to leave it behind. But, to some $1005 isn''t that much, to someone like me, it would pay my rent.

I am sure the investigators will pay close attention to every clue, if the money is one then that is for them to determine.

[meinnv]

Meant to say if he was that wealthy, not

"If we was that wealthy". Sorry about that error.

[slim1h2o]

Slim come on now a drug runner. That is a stretch.


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Posted by lewiston14 at 01:22 PM : Oct 02, 2008


Hey, you never know!

BTW, that was satire.

No I don''t really believe that he was a drug runner, but no one was asking about it. But the fact remains, he was carrying around quite a bit of cash. More than nessesary.

[meinnv]

Since this happened in Nevada, you might try getting more information from the following "local" news channels:

The first one is a direct link to a story from September 2007:

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=7063931

http://www.lasvegasnow.com
http://www.ktnv.com
http://www.kvbc.com
http://www.fox5vegas.com

This is also the "timeline" of Fossett''s disappearance:

http://www.krnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9113356

[meinnv]

Here are some highlights from the timeline:
Sept. 3, 2007

Steve Fossett takes off alone in a single-engine plane to search for a location to break the land speed record. He leaves from the Flying M Ranch near Yerington, owned by his friend and hotel mogul Barron Hilton around 9 a.m. Fossett did not file a flight plan, but friends say he had planned to return by 12 p.m.

Sept. 19, 2007

Seventeen days after Fossett went missing, authorities scale back their search. The Nevada Civil Air Patrol and the National Guard suspend their search and vow only to fly when new leads come in. At this point the search teams have covered a search area twice the size of New Jersey and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Nov. 26, 2007

Attorney Michael A. LoVallo files a motion on behalf of Fossett''s wife Peggy to have Steve declared legally dead by an Illinois court. "As painful as it is for Mrs. Fossett, other members of the family and his many friends, it is time to initiate this process," LoVallo says. Court papers describe Fossett''s estate as "vast, surpassing eight figures in liquid assets, various entities and real estate."

[lewiston14]

Slim I never held a gun to your head. I know you were kidding. Friends dont bury friends.

[meinnv]

May 1, 2008

A spokesperson for Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons announces the governor will ask Peggy Fossett to pay $485,998 of the $685,998 costs of searching for her husband. Gibbons says it''s appropriate given the state''s $900 million budget shortfall. Fossett''s friend Barron Hilton contributed $200,000 toward the search.

June 10, 2008

Peggy Fossett says she will not reimburse the state of Nevada for the cost of searching for her husband.

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As you can see, everything can be a clue, even the lack of evidence is a clue.