Washington state search and rescue personnel on Sunday found
what they believe are the remains of missing pilot Rocky Stewart,
the Hollister man whose fighter-trainer jet crashed over the
Cascades eight months ago.
Hollister – Washington state search and rescue personnel on Sunday found what they believe are the remains of missing pilot Rocky Stewart, the Hollister man whose fighter-trainer jet crashed over the Cascades eight months ago.
Although police won’t have a positive identification until DNA tests are performed, Kittitas County Sheriff’s Sgt. Fred Slyfield said they believe the human remains they found are of Stewart’s and his passenger, San Francisco resident Scott Smith. Along with the plane wreckage, police found several items with Stewart’s name on it, including a couple of cell phones, credit cards and paperwork.
“I can’t say 100 percent sure (it’s them),” Slyfield said. “But everything is consistent from what we’ve been told from the get-go.”
Stewart, 45, and Smith, 46, were in Stewart’s Czechoslovakian fighter-trainer jet when it crashed over the Cascades in late October. Stewart was en route to Idaho when he hit an early-season storm over the mountain range, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. He reported flight-control problems just before officials lost all radar and radio contact with him.
Days after the crash it was revealed that Stewart was the subject of a lengthy investigation by the Hollister Police Department for alleged sexual misconduct with a minor. However, his defense team claimed he was the target in a bizarre extortion scam by a group of teenage Hollister girls to bilk the multi-millionaire of $2 million.
Hollister police closed the investigation last month after receiving confirmation of the crash from the FAA, according to police.
Stewart’s wife, Patti, who has two teenage daughters with the former Oracle vice-president, was relieved to finally have closure for herself, her children and the couple’s friends. She plans to have a memorial service so her husband’s friends also can have closure as soon as possible.
“We always knew his plane went down and he died out there. We said our good-byes then,” she said. “I was thankful to God he put him down in such a beautiful place doing something he loved. We knew he was gone, now it’s final.”
Stewart’s wife said the criminal allegations were difficult for everyone close to Stewart to grapple with, because they were blatantly untrue.
“There was no merit,” she said. “He tried to help some people and they wanted more. We knew because we went through it.”
Once the remains are positively identified and given to the family, Stewart’s family plans to cremate them and possibly scatter them from a plane, his wife said.
“That’s what he wanted,” she said.
The wreckage was found on a rugged hillside in the Washington State mountain range, at about 3,000 feet elevation, Slyfield said.
Although Slyfield said search teams scoured the area where the plane was found, due to the remoteness of the crash site and a blanket of snow covering the wreckage, it wasn’t found until two men happened upon it while walking in the area late Saturday.
The men told a friend who was camping in the area they had found a plane crash and that it looked old, Slyfield said. Search and rescue personnel had posted flyers along trails in the area with a picture of the jet and information about when it crashed, he said. The camper, who had seen one of the flyers, notified police Saturday evening and then met with rescuers Sunday morning, Slyfield said.
“He took us into the area and pointed at a hill, and around noon we located the wreckage,” Slyfield said. “If you were 100 yards from the crash site you wouldn’t even see it.”
Slyfield said the impact left a hole in the ground about 15 feet by 20 feet across and 5 feet deep. Debris was scattered around the area for about a quarter of a mile.
“It hit very hard,” he said. “We collected bone fragments that we sent for (DNA) testing. The biggest piece was a 5-inch piece.”
Slyfield said his office hopes to send the remains for DNA testing within the week, but was unsure when they will have a positive identification. However, he expressed thanks to both men’s family members for their cooperation during such a trying time.
“We really appreciate how understanding they’ve been with all the issues that surround conducting an operation like this,” Slyfield said. “I’ve been living with this every day for the last seven months, and in 25 years they’ve been one of the best families I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with. It makes our job a lot easier when you haven’t got finger-pointing going on.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or em*******@fr***********.com
