Authorities discovered the remains of the plane and passenger that crashed 17 years ago, police confirmed Wednesday, ABC News reported.
Authorities found a small aircraft that crashed in Lake Huron, Michigan, 17 years ago, and identified the remains of passenger H. Brooke Stauffer Jr., bringing closure to the tragedy, according to ABC News. Stauffer, 56, from Washington, D.C., was reportedly traveling with his fiancée, pilot Karen Dodds, from Mackinac Island to a Michigan town when their Socata TB-20 Trinidad disappeared in August of 2007.
While Dodds’s remains were found shortly after the incident, Stauffer’s whereabouts remained unknown until recent efforts by Great Lakes Search & Recovery, who were commissioned by the family, state police said, the outlet reported. The search efforts reportedly led to the discovery of the plane wreckage close to Bois Blanc Island in August of 2024. State police divers discovered the remains of a skeleton, and the Center for Forensic Anthropology at Northern Michigan University verified Stauffer’s identity through dental information.
Searchers have discovered a small plane that crashed in Michigan’s Lake Huron 17 years ago as well as the long-missing remains of a passenger. https://t.co/bjCdgp9LIp
— ABC 17 News (@ABC17News) August 28, 2024
Before the plane crash, Dodds ran her own company, Dodds Design, specializing in graphic web design and marketing, ABC News reported. Stauffer served as the National Electrical Contractors Association’s standards and safety director. “He was a prolific writer, and the author of several technical books, numerous magazine articles, a children’s novel and a guidebook for Washington, D.C.,” his obituary stated. (RELATED: Plane Crash During Takeoff Kills 18 People In Nepal)
The Daily Caller has reached out to Michigan State Police for more information and has yet to receive a response.