9. Anchorage

Mayor Mark Begat. Begat his father, of course, Congressman Nick Beget, disappeared on a small plane in Alaska in nineteen seventy two. So many politicians have died in plane crashes, and there are so many random coincidences tied to those crashes too. Take the tiny town of Eveleth, Minnesota, for example. It's both where Nick Beggitt is from and the spot where in two thousand two U S. Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash right before the midterms. Or take

Check Morrison, the former mayor of New Orleans. Morrison, a close friend of Congressman Hail Boggs died in a plane crash in Mexico in nineteen sixty four. At the same time, Boggs was serving on the Warrant Commission investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Morrison actually died six months to the day after Kennedy. Heck, even Kennedy's son died in a plane crash in You see what I'm doing. I'm dropping a load of conspiratorial bricks into your brain.

If you want, you can use them to build up some crazy narrative of intrigue and murder, or you can rely on common sense, because people who fly often on small planes are more likely to die on small planes. There's no grand conspiracy here, no Illuminati plot cooked up in the basement of a little Caesar's. Now that doesn't mean conspiracies never exist. They do. Plots are hatched and

people are killed all the time. And let me ask you the claims we are investigating, the claims made by Jerry Paisley, a mobster, a murderer, a bomber, that he and Peggy Beggitt played a role in the disappearance of Congressman Nick Begget. Are they really so crazy that they didn't warrant a legitimate investigation. I don't think so, because when you boil it down, when you remove the words

mobster and congressman and bomb, what do you get? You get a claim made by a man that he played a role in the death of his second wife's first husband and that she did too. Typically, that's the type of claim investigators and reporters take very seriously. Typically, but in this case they didn't. The FBI never even interviewed Peggy, not once, and the Alaska news media never reported the story. It's not hyperbolic then, in my opinion, in to say

that if I didn't ask hard questions, nobody would. That's why I had to go back to Alaska. There's only so much you can do from Afar. I needed to be on the ground, So I was grateful to touch down on October at Ted Stephens Anchorage International Airport, the airport named for a man who died in a plane crash. From my heart, media, this is missing in Alaska, the story of two congressmen who vanished in nineteen two, and my quest to figure out what happened to them. I'm

your host, John Wallzac. I want to talk for a minute about bodies, specifically the importance of recovering physical remains in the wake of tragedies. No matter how someone dies, when you lose a loved one, if you lack of body, you're deny some sense of finality. This is something Hail Boggs's daughter Cokey Roberts discussed multiple times before she died, how she knew her dad was dead, but without a body,

she still imagined him just walking in the door. One day on October nineteen, only twenty four hours before I landed in Anchorage, a man named Brian Stephen Smith was arrested at the airport for murder. But it wasn't a body that led to his arrest. It was a memory card. On the card, an SD card, which someone found on a downtown street, were photos and videos of a man strangling a woman to death and laughing while he did it.

Four days later, while in Anchorage, I awoke to another violent video, this one streamed to the world from my city, New Orleans, where a hotel under construction partially collapsed into the street, spewing up a dust cloud reminiscent of nine eleven and killing three men. Amazingly, as of this record, eight months later, the bodies of two of those men are still stuck in the wreckage. Both of these events, the SD card murder and the hotel collapse, are tragic.

Both killed people, but in one case a body was recovered. The remains of Kathleen Joe Henry, the SD card victim, were found on the side of a highway. In the other two, families are still waiting to bury their loved ones. Now, obviously we all grieve differently, but most of us, when we lose a loved one, want to bury them or scatter their ashes. We want finality, that moment when dirt covers a coffin, or we throw ashes into the wind. At least then we can try to move on. It's

some sense of finality. This sense of finality, any finality, was cruelly denied to the families of the four men whose disappearance we're investigating, the can rassman, the pilot, the political aid. Their bodies are still out there somewhere. Hail Bogs, Nick Beggett, Don John's Russ Brown, all had wives, all had children. Beggage had six kids. I am, of course, well aware that this story is making them relive their father's death. And confront allegations that their mother was involved.

That makes me feel kind of sick. So the idea of meeting them in person and interviewing them was not something I cherished, but I had to try. Before our trip. I told three of them, Mark, Tom, and Nick Jr. That I would be an anchorage and asked if we could meet the other three their siblings. I left alone. They were young when their dad died, and I didn't want to bother them. Nick Jr. Declined an interview request.

Mark and Tom, however, agreed to sit down with me, but then Tom started pressing for information, who was funding the show, etcetera. Stuff like that, which I get. They're a political family. Good questions. Eventually, Tom and Mark backed out of the interview and they said their mother, Peggy, would never do an interview. Tom did, however, agree to answer questions via email. On the record. I asked about his mom and Jerry Paisley from Tom quote, my mother

is eighty one. You have deeply upset her and it is not our intent to add to her pain. Comparing her word to that of a convicted killer is like comparing climate change deniers to the scientific evidence of climate change. These aren't journalistic equivalences. Those are the values of entertainment journalism end quote. Again, I understand that my investigation is painful, but I disagree with Tom. He said, she said, is not the equivalent of comparing scientific fact to denial of

that fact. And I don't think Paisley's claims should be written off without an investigation just because he was a criminal, especially when evidence backed up parts of his story, his marriage to Peggy, his business dealings, his mob ties, the murders and bombings he committed, etcetera. I went on to ask Tom about the state of his parents marriage around the time his dad disappeared. Now this might seem cruel,

but it's relevant. Multiple sources told me that Nick and Peggy Begetts were separated in nineteen seventy two, that they were on the verge of divorce. If true, that's obviously Jermaine as we try to evaluate Paisley's claims. Tom denied it, saying, quote, my parents had difficulty in early nineteen sixty nine, which they resolved that year. They were not separated. My dad was in juno for sessions, as was the case every spring,

and even then they worked through it together. I know that they sat all of us down and walked us through it at the time, years before the disappearance, if that helps. By the end of that year, they were strong with each other as kids. We saw and knew that that remained the case for the rest of his life. End quote. I asked Tom about Paisley's claim that Peggy met mob boss Joe Bonano in Tucson in nineteen seventy

two before Nick disappeared. Tom said, quote, I never considered the comment about my mom by Jerry in that transcript to be credible, not only because he was a consistent liar in my direct experience with him, not only because I know how she loved and still loves my father, but because she could not have been there as Jerry claimed. She was with us kids as our primary caretaker. Dad was often traveling or in Juno. My mom was never

in Tucson, Arizona prior to nineteen seventy four. The suppose dating at the hard of his conjecture never could have happened, but that is the primary source of your conjecture. Jerry was a bartender when they met an anchorage in December nineteen seventy three, after we returned to Anchorage. When she realized how violent he was, she threw him out to protect us kids. End quote. Paisley, Tom said, quote continues to victimize us in death as he did in the

brief time we knew him. End quote and quote. Jerry was a violent and vicious man who had a skill at charming a person who was widowed with six kids. My father never had a will, so she gained little but heartbreak from his death. When she married Jerry, she even lost her survivor's benefit. She ended up having to cook meals and clean houses in the late eighties to make ends meet. My family is wearied by the things people like Jerry have said for their moment of fame

or notoriety. We want nothing more to do with it. I wish you weren't doing this story, which will only cause hurt and accomplished little but I understand from your words to me your reasons end quote. Finally, Tom confirmed that Peggy was never interviewed by law enforcement in regards to Paisley's claims. After the Beggage has backed out, I shifted my attention to other sources, including Tom Anderson, the former head of the Alaska State troopers who I interviewed

in downtown Anchorage at the Alaska Law Enforcement Museum. Anderson was directly involved in the search for the missing congressman in nine two when they disappeared. He was a Captain in charge of the troopers Criminal Investigation Bureau or c i B. This is serious business. This was the most serious search and rescue of this state ever had. And there was no room for air. And the boss came down and says, hey, we will follow up on everything

that comes along. Don't discount anything, And it was kind of a cover your butt thing, but it was also you never know, so we covered everything. I also met up with Perry Green, who's famous for two things. His poker skills, which have won him more than a million dollars, and his first shop. Green's furs are beautiful, meticulously crafted, often colorful works of art, purchased over the years by

celebrities like Muhammad Ali. During my research, Green's name came up often, probably because he knew literally everyone in Anchorage in the seventies or so it seemed, including Gene Fowler, one of two men Paisley claimed picked him up when he allegedly transported a bomb to Alaska and Jean's brother Larry, who Paisley said they met up with that night. Can you tell me how you knew Gene and Larry. Well, Jean was a partner of mine until we had a

parting of the ways. Um. Larry Fowler was his brother who was just I think he had a pawn shop at the end. Maybe he had a bar, I can't remember, but he I know he was thrown to drink a little bit. But Jeane might have known Jerry Paisley in Arizona, I think, But just you know, it would be hard for me to fathom that Gene would be involved anyway in such a destardly deed. And did you know Jerry Paisley.

I knew Verry Jerry Paisley pretty well, pretty well. He across the street was a holiday and today they call it something else. And I knew him. He started there as a bartender, and he was a friendly enough certainty. Get off shift and and he would come over here and sit in a chair and we'd talk a little bit. And that's how I knew Jerry Green. Also knew Nick and Peggy Baggage. And what was Peggy like? Moderately intelligent? Uh, is that a bad way to describe somebody. She's not

an intellect. She was by no means intellectual, but she wasn't from the hills. I don't want to despair anybody who might be from uh, apple Chia or some place. She was an average person. You know some people who uh in spite of themselves, uh come from poor upbringing, but they're pretty smart people. They got a lot of moxie. She did not have what I call maxie, which is a ability to size people up or two. Um, really understand that sometimes people have old terrior motives or um,

maybe I'm wrong. Did you know a man named Alex Miller? Very well? I loved Alex Miller. Everybody everybody loved Alex Miller. Alex Miller is the man who arranged the missing flight. Pay attention. He's important. He was bar owner who probably never went into his own barn, never drank that I know of, but always had a cigar in his mouth, who claimed friendships with big Democrats back in the East Coast. He was never a boaster. He would he would always

get two three. You know at that time, there's a lot of money to three bucks out of you for a candidate I don't know whether it went to him or what. In fact, when the first governor of Alaska was elected, he had him as the chief of staff. He knew as much about how to pass legislation as as I know about plumbing. On October, Miller, a well connected political operative, called pilot Don John's at the last minute to arrange the ill fated flight, something that always

struck me as odd. See. John's was in Fairbanks, sixty miles north of Anchorage. Why ask a pilot to fly from Fairbanks to Anchorage to Juno when you could just call a pilot already in Anchorage. The answer lies with who paid for the flight? Nobody. It was free, likely an illegal contribution to beget his campaign, though it's doubtful Beggett knew that at the time. But why did John's do it? Two witnesses told me he was having money

issues and Miller twisted his arm. Here's Cheryl James, who dated John's and was the last person to see him alive. He was having financial trouble. He had geared up for the pipeline and then that what had just been delayed delayed, delayed, and he was paying insurance on costs on all of these um I think they were called herks, these large aircrafts that could shuttle supplies back and forth to the

North Lope. And he was behind in landing fees and he was told by somebody out of Juno that if he did this flight that his landing fees is past two landing fees would just go away. Which person it wasn't the governor, but it was somebody right in the Governor's office, and I cannot remember his name, said Alex Miller it was. And here's John's friend, Tom cor Mettis, who was actually with John's when Miller called on October when he got the call, and you were there? Who

made that call to him? Alex Miller? Don said it was Alex Miller, And did don disclose what Alex said? I only to pick up bogs and baggage and take him to the airport to Juno. And that's when I said, well, And Don did say something about he thought it was bad either, but he was going to check it out. And that's that's when he told me that he owed it back rent on lending fees and the rent on the hangar space. So why am I focusing on Alex Miller,

who cares who arranged the flight. Well, if Jerry Paisley told the truth, if someone put a bomb on the missing plane, that person would have had to know the details of the flight, and the flight wasn't arranged until the last minute on October ninety two. Miller is one of very few people who knew those details. And remember witnesses allegedly told members of law enforcement that they saw someone lurking around the plane the night before it disappeared.

I'm also discussing Miller because when I started researching him, I found red flags. Most importantly, in nineteen seventy six, at the height of the oil boom, he was indicted alongside a former U. S attorney for allegedly trying to set up a large scale prostitution and gambling operation in Alaska. He was acquitted, but again red flags. This guy, who the mayor of Fairbanks in nineteen seventy two jokingly called

the Godfather, arranged the missing flight. There's another twist though, see Miller worked for a man named Neil Burke, a wealthy businessman and pilot who owned an airline. Burke at points was the richest man in Alaska. A CIA contractor and briefly George W. Bush's boss. But I digress. When

we first spoke, Burke told me something surprising. He claimed that he was supposed to fly the missing congressman to Juno the day they disappeared, but he got stuck in England, he said, so he asked Miller to arrange an alternative. If you were a Republican in the head of the Young Republicans Club, why were you arranging a flight for two Democratic congressman And that's my own business. I don't care who I flew forward as long as we paid the bill. It was like, that's what I did. But

the flight was unpaid. It was a free flight. Thank I'm sorry you think, Yeah, no, I it was I It was reported in the news afterward, and I've I've talked a few people. M. Well, then maybe I was billions, you know, from political reasons, and M yeah, I gave by. Interestingly enough, later, while discussing his company's work for the CIA, Burke mentioned a business partner in Arizona, something that immediately piqued my interest. These guys were out of Tucson or

this company was out of Tucson. Yeah, not too soon. There's an air base right between two Sons and Phoenix. So was you know we're called and uh, anyway, that's where they've been based. They were based, I don't know. And this was a company that you worked with or the CIA, folks, It was company intermount Intermountain Aviation, But yeah, they were all CIA. They advanced several airlines. Seven Are

Transport was the CIA operations. But we worked with a lot of different airlines and things around the world in those days. And well, answering operations. Do you remember what year you first did contract work for the CIA? Primary around seventy one or seventy two when I first you know, part of the story takes part in Arizona. So I also asked people, Um, were you in Arizona in the sixth season? Seventies? No? I mean was that Ondesday? Did they ever go to Arizona in those years? Probably? I

don't know. I traveled constantly, so I felt who he was there. But you don't recall you don't recall going to Tucson in the late sixties or early seventies. Yeah, I did. I went down to the Inner Mountain one time. What do you it was? This flying business? I mean it wasn't there. I mean, I don't even remember what it was for Mozzano or now do you remember when that was? No, No, I don't. I traveled the world for forty years. I mean, you know, I went everywhere.

At the end of our call, I circled back and pressed burked on an important detail. I guess the question that I would have is, why call a pilot in Fairbanks to go down to Anchorage to go down to Juno? Why not just call a pilot an Anchorage directly? It seems kind of a long journey when there were so many pilots available in Anchorage. Sure, I don't know, I know, but why that? I mean, I I had my recollection and it was a revenue trip, and probably I was,

you know, because Don was a friend of mine. I was throwing some business this way. But you're telling me it was a non revenue trip. So that shows you how much I had to remember. Yeah, I know it was. It was an unpaid, unpaid trip. Yeah, that's that's just that strikes me as strange. Why because I didn't do much for me, that was my business was, And then why why when I fly unpaid trip for the Democrats? I feel while a hitckled around and uh his first

campaign for governor. But I donated my time, but they made them get an airplane and and just listen and given away free fights. Wasn't my thing in those days. We were in the business to selling the place. But you know, you may have better records than I do.

Where somebody has a better memory than I do. H in Anchorage, the person I wanted to interview most was danny's Ivenage, one of two men Jerry Paisley claimed him up at the airport in the summer of nineteen seventy two when Paisley allegedly transported explosives from Arizona to Alaska. After Nick Begett disappeared, Zivinach had gone into business with Paisley and Peggy Baggage. The trio started Max Inc. Which ran a bar the Alaska mining company. Peggy was president,

Paisley secretary treasurer, Zivinach vice president. Paisley told investigators that while drunk on a fishing trip, Zivinach said that the Congressman's plane was bombed and that he played a direct role in bombing it. I did end up speaking with Zivinas several times for hours by phone, but he declined to do a recorded interview. Every time we spoke, he was defensive and sarcastic, though people who know him repeatedly told me he's an upstanding guy. Every time he vehemently

denied Paisley's claims. But when I asked him why he got fifty percent ownership of Max Inc. Why Peggy Begette insisted he be a partner in the business, even though at the time Peggy had plenty of money and Zivinich, a bartender, had no experience managing a bar. He didn't have a good answer. In fact, he said he's still not sure. So the story of our Alaska trip is in part like that of Arizona, one of frustration, interviews, denied, dead end leads. That's to be expected to be honest.

It's not like I thought we'd fly into Anchorage and solve everything in a matter of days. When I say we, by the way, I'm talking about myself plus three of our producers, Ben Bolan, Paul Deckett, and Chris Brown past interviews past the bombing claim. The most important reason we went to Alaska was to embark on a search for the missing plane, and not some fake search because I heard interesting stories about certain reality TV shows fabricating searches

in Alaska. This search was real. In late I received an absolutely fascinating tip from a man named Bob Martinson, a longtime commercial fisherman and photojournalist. Around nineteen Bob said, he and two other men, including his dad, we're fishing off the coast of an island in Prince William Sound when they pulled up something surprising. Part of Assessina tale. Here's Bob. I had a reel in the boat that would pull the net in, and I'd step on a card to upgrade the hydraulic valve and it would It

would just bring the net in. And when I came to weeds or sticks or fish or whatever in the net, you just take your foot off the pedal and pick it out of the net. Well, something big and loud and italic punked into the bow of the skiff, and I saw, what the heck is that? To look over and see the tail of an airplane was pretty shocking to say the least. But you know, I didn't want to drop it because of all the tangled metal it was.

It was fairly fresh looking tears, you know, but like I said, that aluminum was shiny and it didn't have things growing on it. Bob found the tail wreckage in port off the coast of Hinchinbrook Island, at the entrance of Prince William Sound. It came up in the lead

of his pers sing a type of net. And it was when I was fishing with my dad and a guy named Holi Risa, and we fished port ches quite often, and we didn't usually fish this one beach, but we tried it because we saw some fish over there and and we lay a lead off for the beach, which is a heavy white net that the fish will see and it takes them out to where the the person can operate without hanging up on rocks, and so it

leads the fish off for the beach. And when I picked up the lead, it had a tail of what looked like assessina. It was. It was pretty shredded, you know. Obviously the rest of the plane was gone, so what I caught in the net was it was probably all that we remained on that beach. Amazingly, most of the tail number was still visible. I know it's been a long time, but would you feel comfortable saying that it

was at least four characters. Yeah, it was. It was like four or five numbers, and the tail was, uh, you know, four and a half. The piece I had was like four and a half ft five ft long and maybe three four ft tall. It was pretty much the whole upper section of the tail. And can you tell me um more detailed you mentioned port? Do you remember exactly specifically where around tension book you caught it? Yeah? It was the western shore of of Poor Edges, just

outside of the entrance to Constantine Harbor. And how how far off the shore? How how deep into the water? Oh, it was probably um maybe a hundred and fifty ft off shore and maybe tep something like that. Bob remembers the tail as being reddish and white. The color of the missing plane was described on paper as orange and white, but I'm not sure which shade of orange. Bob also told me that he's shade blind, so the reddish color

he remembers could have been more of an orange. You know, I had asked you a few years ago if you had any photos you by chance have a chance to look or do you know if you have any photos of the tailpiece? No, I don't think I do. We were we were fishing. It's possible I could have taken him, but then it would have been on film. And I

don't remember seeing pictures of it. And can you tell me what kind of you were talking a little bit about the condition, what kind of condition was in in Well, the tail looked like necessarily new plane, like it didn't have anything growing on it. I don't remember. It looks pretty shiny, but it was shredded, you know, like like it was torn off, and it was it was just the upright section of the tail, you know, the top piece.

Bob said that he, his dad, and their fishing partner only Resa, reported the wreckage, including the partially visible tail number, to the Alaska State Trooper's office in Cordova, a town on Prince William Sound. He doesn't remember exactly how, whether they radio did in or reported it once they got back. He's also fuzzy on what they did with the actual wreckage.

He doesn't recall whether or not they left it in the water, brought it to Cordova themselves, or sent it back on a tender, a small boat that resupplied them during their fishing trip. I know we reported it, and I know we heard that it was suspicious because of the numbers and the coloring, and so it seems like they they wanted that piece. And I can't remember what

we in with it. You know, we were in the middle of fishing, so there's not a lot of room on the boat, so I don't know if we kept it, you know, I mean, something like that's pretty important, So I doubt I threw it out until they said it wasn't important or something. And I don't remember if anybody came and collected it or it was a long time ago. Yeah, but they specifically told you that it might be tied to the missing Bog's baggage plane. Yes, yeah, that's the

only reason I I was aware of it. You know, what Bob does clearly remember is that after the troopers got the partial tail number, they were very interested in the wreckage. So let me dig in here and review a few things. First, Bob is reliable. I wouldn't take a lead from some random person this seriously, without vetting them. I checked his background. People in Cordova know him. He

is a longtime fisherman and photographer. He's calm. He hasn't sought out media attention ever, He only contacted me in after reading about my work because I specifically mentioned Hinchinbrook Island, the island off which he found the tailpiece. Sadly, the two men with Bob that day, his dad and Oli Reza, who could have corroborated his story, have died. But in twenty nineteen I spoke with Only's son, Steve, a physician in Washington State, who said Bob is reliable and honest.

Steve used to fish in Alaska with Bob, Bob's dad and his dad. He stopped right before he went to med school in nineteen seventy nine. Since he wasn't there when the other men pulled up the tail piece, they must have founded around nineteen eighty or later, he said, which matches up with what Bob told me. I also compared everything Bob said in with what he told me in twenty nineteen. His story was consistent, So I believe Bob.

I believe that he found part of a plane. The question is whether or not it was part of the missing plane. Second, the location where Bob found the tailpiece is very interesting. Nearly every person I interviewed believes the missing plane crashed into Prince William Sound somewhere between Portage

Pass and Hension Brook Island. See there was a communication station on Nsion Book that the pilot Don John's should have been able to use to make radio contact while over the sound, but the day he vanished, he didn't. Now there are multiple possible explanations for this. His radio could have failed, he might have been flying low, somewhat off course and unable to make line of sight contact. But the likeliest explanation is that he crashed somewhere between

Portage Pass and Hension Brook into Prince William Sound. So the spot where Bob found the cessenon tail right off Hension Brook lines up roughly with the missing planes flight path. Third. While a number of planes have crashed on or near Hensin Brook, most were recovered or their craft sites were cataloged. There are only so many Sessna like planes that disappeared in the vicinity of Hension Brook before nineteen eighty and were never found. Unfortunately, I can't give you an exact number.

The database of crashes hosted by the NTSB is clunky, incomplete, and hard to parse. If somehow we were able to get this figure, to know that say, ten Cessna like planes vanished within twenty miles of hension book before nineteen eighty. It would help immensely. We would be able to better judge the odds of whether or not the tailpiece Bob found belonged to the baggage Bogg's plane. Fourth, the color of what Bob found roughly matches the color of the

missing plane. He remembers it as being reddish and white. The missing plane, again was orange and white, but Bob is aid blind, so there's some ambiguity. One key piece of documentation that would be invaluable right now is a photo of the missing plane, which Don John's repainted around nineteen seventy when he bought it. But I've never been able to find one, and I asked everyone. So here's the next best thing. A description of the plane and its coloration from the mechanic who worked on it the

day before it disappeared. Here's Phil hewith. I can't remember what the name of the color was. That it was fairly bright, it was almost it was I'm going to call the international orange color and white and the orange was on the top portion of the aircraft, and it was it was I don't remember it being striped. I remember where the orange was. It was a solid color, but the whole airplane wasn't orange. It was orange and white. It was a two tone. And you know it's just

multi engine Cessna three Tennessee. And what the tail numbers? Do you remember where the tail number was painted on the plane? Yeah? It was if I remember correctly, it was on the tail, you know, on the upright the rudder. It wasn't visible from the air looking down on it. Would it have been um painted at the top or bottom of the tail a small or large characters? I think it was in the middle of the rudder tail and it was the fond size was to fit the

basically the whole middle of that tail rudder. It wasn't overly big and it wasn't overly small. All they had so many numbers and letters to get into that space that that's where it was. And so when you say the middle, it was kind of like, I'm I know what the plane looks like. So if I'm looking at the tail, it would kind of just be a dead set in the middle and going across the tail horrid, Yeah, horizontally across. It wasn't it askew or anything like that.

It would just horizontally down out midway of that Dale rutter. And was the tail um also to tone? Was it also orange and white? Uh? I don't remember that. If it was, it might have been fifth, And most importantly, Bob said that four or five characters were still visible on the tailpiece. The Beggetts Bob tail number had six characters N one eight one to h. The end doesn't mean much. It's generic and on most small planes in

the US. But if Bob found a tailpiece that said N one eight one or N one eight one two, that would be extremely significant. The odds of Assessina tail with four or five of the same characters as that of the missing plane with a similar color found off Hinchinbrook Island not being the baggage Bogg's plane are next to zero. This is why I think Bob's lead is the most important lead on where the plane may have

crashed in nearly fifty years. According to Bob, troopers and Cordova were very excited when they learned about the Cessina tail. They thought it could be part of the baggage Bogg's plane. A key question I had for Bob. Did the troopers say that before they learned the partial tail number or after, because if before, it's not surprising that they would have

linked it possibly to a famous missing plane. But if after, if they still thought it was part of the missing plane, that's very important because they almost certainly would have known the tail number of the missing plane, and they would have compared it to what Bob found. Bob said, the troopers told him they thought it was part of the

baggage Bog's plane after they compared the tail numbers. This is why I was so excited that day a month earlier in Arizona, when Bob texted me the exact coordinates of where he found the tail. And this is why, as winter loomed, I boarded a salvage boat and went onto Prince Williams Sound to hintin Brook Island to that exact spot next time on missing in Alaska. We have a radio, We have air horn and flares, so Tin if you see a bear coming tardsas yeah. This week,

I have two very important task for you. First, look for a photo of the missing plane and orange and white twin engine Cessna three tense with the tail number and one eight one to h Second, help us figure out how many small planes crashed on or in the vicinity of hensin Brook Island before nineteen eight, especially if wreckage was never located. We'd love to speak with an expert who can sort through NTSB data and give us

an exact number. You can reach us by phone at one eight three three m I A tips that's one eight three three six four two eight four seven seven again one eight three three six four two eight four seven seven, or you can reach us via email at tips at I heeart media dot com. That's tips, T I P s at I heart media dot com. Ben Bowen is our executive producer, Paul is our supervising producer, Chris Brown is our assistant producer, Seth Nicholas Johnson is

our producer. Sam T. Garden is our research assistant, and I'm your host and executive producer, John Wallzac. You can find me on Twitter at at John Wallzac j O n W A l c z A K special thanks to Bob Martinson. Missing in Alaska is a co production of I heart Media and Green Fork Media