Missing Plane and Remains Found After 17 Years in Michigan’s Lake Huron

August 30, 2024: In a remarkable event, Michigan researchers have uncovered a small aircraft that went down in Lake Huron almost two decades ago. The findings include human skeletal remains identified as a passenger on the missing flight. The passenger has been identified as H. Brooke Stauffer Jr., a resident from Washington, D.C., who was onboard the aircraft that disappeared in 2007.

A Tragic Mystery Resurfaced

The ill-fated plane, a Socata TB-20 Trinidad, had originally taken off from Mackinac Island in August 2007 with two passengers bound for a small town in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The aircraft disappeared without a trace with Stauffer and pilot Karen Dodds onboard.

The remains of Dodds were discovered two months following the crash, east of the Mackinac Bridge, while no signs of the plane or Stauffer were found. The narrative remained an unresolved mystery for the better part of two decades.

A Breakthrough in Cold Case

In October 2023, the search operation was resumed by a private company, Great Lakes Search & Recovery, at the request of the victims’ family. The breakthrough came in August 2024, when the company researchers found wreckage near Bois Blanc Island.

Following the discovery of the wreckage, state police divers found skeletal remains at the crash site. With assistance from the Center for Forensic Anthropology at Northern Michigan University, the skeletal remains recovered were later confirmed to be those of Stauffer, using dental records.

A Life Remembered

H. Brooke Stauffer Jr., whose identity was confirmed via dental records, worked as the Director of Standards and Safety for the National Electrical Contractors Association. Stauffer was celebrated as an eloquent writer noted for several technical books, a host of magazine articles, a children’s novel, and a guidebook for Washington, D.C..

Karen Dodds, aged 52 at the time of the crash, owned her own web design and marketing enterprise called Dodds Design. Her remains were discovered a couple of months after the tragic incident.

This case serves as a sobering reminder of the unpredictable nature of air travel and the relentless pursuit of truth and closure in unsolved cases.