May 28, 2021 • 44 mins
The team lands in Alaska and gets to work.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
The biggest airport in Alaska is named after a man
who died in a plane crash, a man whose wife
also died in a different plane crash at the airport.
I'm talking about Senator Ted Stevens, who survived the nineteen
seventy eight crash that killed his first wife, only to
die thirty two years later in another crash. Stephen served
(00:28):
in the U. S. Senate for forty years until two
thousand and eight, when, in the wake of a controversial
corruption trial, he narrowly lost his seat to then 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
(00:49):
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
(01:11):
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.
(01:33):
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
(01:56):
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
(02:18):
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
(02:39):
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
(03:00):
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.
(03:27):
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
(03:52):
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
(04:14):
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
(04:36):
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,
(05:00):
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
(05:22):
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.
(05:45):
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,
(06:07):
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
(06:31):
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
(06:52):
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,
(07:15):
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
(07:36):
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
(07:59):
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
(08:23):
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,
(08:48):
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
(09:08):
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
(09:30):
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
(09:51):
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
(10:12):
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.
(10:35):
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.
(10:57):
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
(11:42):
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
(12:04):
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
(12:24):
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
(12:45):
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,
(13:05):
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,
(13:29):
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
(13:52):
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.
(14:15):
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,
(14:44):
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.
(15:05):
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
(15:25):
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.
(15:47):
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.
(16:17):
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
(16:38):
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
(16:59):
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
(17:20):
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.
(17:43):
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
(18:05):
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,
(18:29):
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
(18:51):
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
(19:13):
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
(19:38):
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
(20:00):
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,
(20:22):
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
(20:43):
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
(21:05):
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
(21:26):
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
(21:48):
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
(22:08):
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
(22:29):
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
(22:52):
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
(23:15):
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.
(23:35):
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
(23:56):
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
(24:18):
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
(24:45):
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
(25:09):
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
(25:53):
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
(26:17):
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
(26:41):
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
(27:04):
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,
(27:26):
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
(27:48):
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,
(28:14):
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
(28:37):
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
(29:00):
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
(29:21):
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
(29:44):
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
(30:06):
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
(30:32):
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,
(30:58):
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
(31:18):
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,
(31:41):
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,
(32:05):
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
(32:26):
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
(32:49):
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
(33:10):
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
(33:32):
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
(33:59):
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
(34:20):
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,
(34:42):
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
(35:05):
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,
(35:26):
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
(35:47):
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
(36:07):
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
(36:30):
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
(36:51):
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.
(37:11):
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
(37:34):
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.
(37:55):
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
(38:17):
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
(38:40):
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
(39:04):
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.
(39:28):
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
(39:50):
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
(40:11):
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.
(40:33):
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,
(40:54):
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
(41:14):
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
(41:36):
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,
(41:56):
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
(42:17):
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
(42:39):
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,
(43:03):
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
(43:24):
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
(43:45):
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
(44:09):
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
The biggest airport in Alaska is named after a man
who died in a plane crash, a man whose wife
also died in a different plane crash at the airport.
I'm talking about Senator Ted Stevens, who survived the nineteen
seventy eight crash that killed his first wife, only to
die thirty two years later in another crash. Stephen served
(00:28):
in the U. S. Senate for forty years until two
thousand and eight, when, in the wake of a controversial
corruption trial, he narrowly lost his seat to then 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
(00:49):
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
(01:11):
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.
(01:33):
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
(01:56):
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
(02:18):
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
(02:39):
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
(03:00):
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.
(03:27):
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
(03:52):
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
(04:14):
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
(04:36):
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,
(05:00):
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
(05:22):
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.
(05:45):
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,
(06:07):
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
(06:31):
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
(06:52):
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,
(07:15):
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
(07:36):
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
(07:59):
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
(08:23):
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,
(08:48):
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
(09:08):
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
(09:30):
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
(09:51):
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
(10:12):
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.
(10:35):
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.
(10:57):
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
(11:42):
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
(12:04):
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
(12:24):
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
(12:45):
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,
(13:05):
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,
(13:29):
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
(13:52):
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.
(14:15):
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,
(14:44):
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.
(15:05):
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
(15:25):
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.
(15:47):
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.
(16:17):
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
(16:38):
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
(16:59):
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
(17:20):
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.
(17:43):
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
(18:05):
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,
(18:29):
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
(18:51):
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
(19:13):
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
(19:38):
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
(20:00):
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,
(20:22):
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
(20:43):
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
(21:05):
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
(21:26):
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
(21:48):
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
(22:08):
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
(22:29):
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
(22:52):
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
(23:15):
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.
(23:35):
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
(23:56):
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
(24:18):
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
(24:45):
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
(25:09):
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
(25:53):
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
(26:17):
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
(26:41):
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
(27:04):
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,
(27:26):
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
(27:48):
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,
(28:14):
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
(28:37):
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
(29:00):
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
(29:21):
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
(29:44):
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
(30:06):
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
(30:32):
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,
(30:58):
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
(31:18):
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,
(31:41):
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,
(32:05):
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
(32:26):
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
(32:49):
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
(33:10):
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
(33:32):
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
(33:59):
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
(34:20):
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,
(34:42):
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
(35:05):
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,
(35:26):
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
(35:47):
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
(36:07):
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
(36:30):
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
(36:51):
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.
(37:11):
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
(37:34):
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.
(37:55):
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
(38:17):
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
(38:40):
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
(39:04):
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.
(39:28):
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
(39:50):
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
(40:11):
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.
(40:33):
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,
(40:54):
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
(41:14):
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
(41:36):
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,
(41:56):
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
(42:17):
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
(42:39):
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,
(43:03):
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
(43:24):
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
(43:45):
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
(44:09):
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
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