Although Washington state search and rescue personnel are not
actively searching for missing Hollister pilot Rocky Stewart
– who disappeared two months ago but is still the suspect in an
investigation of sexual misconduct by Hollister police – rescuers
say they will continue searching for any wreckage of the
multi-millionaire’s plane come spring.
Hollister – Although Washington state search and rescue personnel are not actively searching for missing Hollister pilot Rocky Stewart – who disappeared two months ago but is still the suspect in an investigation of sexual misconduct by Hollister police – rescuers say they will continue searching for any wreckage of the multi-millionaire’s plane come spring.
Stewart, 45, and his 46-year-old passenger Scott Smith of San Francisco, were in Stewart’s Czechoslovakian fighter-trainer jet when it apparently crashed over the Cascade mountain range in late October. It was revealed later that Stewart was the suspect of a lengthy investigation by police for sexual misconduct with a minor, although his defense team has said he was the target of a bizarre extortion plan by several teenage girls from Hollister to bilk him for $2 million.
Sgt. Fred Slyfield said the Washington state Kittitas County Sheriff’s Department has received a couple leads about the alleged crash over the past couple months, but nothing substantial.
The area where the plane supposedly went down is covered in two feet of snow, and while search and rescue workers were hoping some deer or elk hunters might find the wreckage during the hunting season, nothing has turned up, he said.
Slyfield said he has no doubt Stewart’s plane went down somewhere over the rugged mountain range due to the radar reports his office received from the state’s aeronautics department.
He said the plane didn’t have rocket-powered ejector seats but was equipped with parachutes. However, he said both Stewart and Smith would have had to pop the canopy of the plane off, flip it upside down and fall out to escape the crash – which Slyfield said wouldn’t be possible because Stewart didn’t appear to have control of the plane when it went down.
“Right now we’re just biding our time. We’re planning in the spring time to do some more looking around,” Slyfield said. “But I’ll make no predictions. There are two or three dozen planes in the state that have never been found.”
Slyfield said his department has been in regular contact with both men’s families and friends and lets them know whenever anything comes up.
Stewart’s wife, Patti, who has two daughters with the former Oracle vice president, did not return phone calls to her cell phone Monday.
The Hollister Police Department is considering the investigation that included several girls alleging Stewart raped them open until official confirmation of his death is received.
The San Benito County District Attorney’s Office, which was assisting police with the investigation, suspended any action against Stewart when he went missing in October. District Attorney John Sarsfield said Monday he hasn’t received any new information about the case.
Stewart’s defense team had said a group of Hollister girls known as the “Party Girls” had planned to extort Stewart for $2 million and six of them made allegations that Stewart had raped them. But Sarsfield said the extortion claims were just starting to be investigated when Stewart disappeared and they were unfounded at that time.
Sarsfield had said one of the girls involved could face prosecution for filing a false police report, but he hasn’t received anything from the police department to proceed with charges.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or
em*******@fr***********.com
