Possible Fossett ID, other items found in Calif.

ph4ever · Post by **ph4ever** » October 1, 2008 3:48 pm

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A hiker in a rugged part of eastern California found an ID and other items possibly belonging to Steve Fossett, the adventurer who vanished on a solo flight in a borrowed plane more than a year ago, authorities said Wednesday.

The items were found Monday near the town of Mammoth Lakes, Inyo National Forest spokeswoman Nancy Upham said.

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Frank4 · Post by **Frank4** » October 1, 2008 3:50 pm

Just saw this at CNN.com interesting stuff

Dezdmona · Post by **Dezdmona** » October 1, 2008 3:58 pm

Wow, has it really been a year?

Glad it seems they've found him, but I know he went out the way he wanted to...tempting fate and defying gravity.

Dezdmona · Post by **Dezdmona** » October 2, 2008 11:29 am

Search teams find Fossett wreckage

Search teams confirmed that wreckage found in the rugged eastern mountains of California is that of missing adventurer Steve Fossett's airplane, the Madera County sheriff said Thursday.

An aerial search late Wednesday spotted what appeared to be wreckage in the Inyo National Forest near the town of Mammoth Lakes, Sheriff John Anderson saud. Ground crews were confirmed it was Fossett's single-engine Bellanca plane late that night.

Anderson said no human remains were found in the wreckage. Teams led by the sheriff's department would continue the search for remains Thursday, while the National Transportation Safety Board was en route to probe the cause of the crash, he said.

Most of the fuselage disintegrated on impact, and the engine was found several hundred feet away, Anderson said.

chippewa · Post by **chippewa** » October 2, 2008 11:46 am

Glad that the family has a definitive answer. Wow, finding all those $100 bills in the forest would be crazy.

rednekkPH · Post by **rednekkPH** » October 2, 2008 11:49 am

chippewa wrote:Glad that the family has a definitive answer. Wow, finding all those $100 bills in the forest would be crazy.

No, crazy would be finding the bills and reporting it. I think I would have reported finding the ID and not much else.

Lightning Bolt · Post by **Lightning Bolt** » October 2, 2008 11:55 am

Dezdmona wrote:
Anderson said no human remains were found in the wreckage. Teams led by the sheriff's department would continue the search for remains Thursday, while the National Transportation Safety Board was en route to probe the cause of the crash, he said.

Most of the fuselage disintegrated on impact, and the engine was found several hundred feet away, Anderson said.

Local bears interviewed for this story agreed that Fossett was delicious.

chippewa · Post by **chippewa** » October 2, 2008 12:00 pm

rednekkPH wrote:
chippewa wrote:Glad that the family has a definitive answer. Wow, finding all those $100 bills in the forest would be crazy.
No, crazy would be finding the bills and reporting it. I think I would have reported finding the ID and not much else.

I'd think that would be some seriously bad karma. I'm all for "found money", but I wouldn't want this.

Skibo · Post by **Skibo** » October 2, 2008 12:03 pm

Not just bad karma, but the find would eventually be discovered and the hiker would probably be facing charges.

TropicalTroubador · Post by **TropicalTroubador** » October 2, 2008 2:22 pm

I'm glad that the family may finally be able to get some closure over this. Can you imagine someone you're close to just...vanishing like that?

bravedave · Post by **bravedave** » October 2, 2008 8:59 pm

NTSB: Remains found at Steve Fossett wreckage site

Rest easy, aviator.

ragtopW · Post by **ragtopW** » October 2, 2008 9:37 pm

gonna guess they will DNA the remains??

OceanCityGirl · Post by **OceanCityGirl** » October 2, 2008 10:52 pm

Glad he will be laid to rest now but so sad. I'm the eternal optimist that believed he was really living on some tropical island sipping frozen drinks.

ragtopW · Post by **ragtopW** » October 2, 2008 11:11 pm

OceanCityGirl wrote:Glad he will be laid to rest now but so sad. I'm the eternal optimist that believed he was really living on some tropical island sipping frozen drinks.

ragtopW wrote:gonna guess they will DNA the remains??

A rich guy with how much cash??? found in a bush??

sorry but IMHO.. until they either get dental (which can be faked)
or DNA.. no proof of who the poor soul is

Brown Eyed Girl · Post by **Brown Eyed Girl** » October 3, 2008 12:10 am

I'm with you, Wayne...too many discrepencies/oddities from the get go for me to believe this is Fossett without DNA proof.

No flight plan, vague about where he's going
Leaves his gps/personal locater thingamajig that he's usually never without sitting on a dresser at home
Declared legally dead after only 5 months...and this is a person with the means to disappear if he really wanted to.
Now it comes out that investigators were aware he had said he was going to fly up the 395 corridor (that he was very familiar with, including the mammoth area), but they don't include it in the original grid search.

Then there's the hiker.

He comes across cash, and the IDs. Says he doesn't recognize Fossett's name, but instead of contacting police he tries contacting the Fossett family on his own.

Gets nowhere doing that, so he contacts a lawyer. Not the police...a lawyer. Instead of contacting authorities, the lawyer and the hiker go back to the site, along with a film crew that just happened to be in the area filming for a documentary about Fossett. They just wanted to obtain the most amount of evidence for the authorities. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Finally the lawyer contacts the authorities.

And who's to say the hiker didn't help himself to some of the cash..who knows how much there might have been. If he were that concerned with karma he would have contacted the police first, not a lawyer, IMHO.

Even if it is proven to be Fossett, there are still more questions than answers. But at least there would be some closure for his family.