Steve Fossett ID, cash, jacket found near Mammoth Lakes, California. Hoax or real?


Hikers and searchers from the Mammoth Lakes Calfornia are reporting they have found an FAA ID for Steve Fossett along with a jacket and some crumpled money.     I’m confused as to why this is only coming out now after two days since the Fossett story was international news for many weeks as thousands participated in a huge search for the missing aviator.     He was lost after flying from Nevada on September 3, 2007.

Fossett was declared dead February 15, 2008.   If this find is not a hoax it implies Fossett may have been alive after the crash.   However it seems very odd that a survival expert of Fossett’s caliber could have survived the crash and wandered around leaving only a few items rather than marking a large area with rocks and markings to signal the aircraft he knew would come looking for him.

The Fossett mystery continues.

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Danger DataFossett Flight ?

DangerData.com blog is now live


DangerData.com Danger Data Blog

As a local I blogged the Kim Family search here in Southern Oregon, and it became clear that it might be helpful for search efforts to have more *simple* ways to distribute and share data, leads, and perhaps even harness the power of the collective intelligence of the huge online community.

Thanks to the Kim’s family friends, especially Scott, a website called JamesandKati.com served as a comment area and sort of “watering hole” for the enormous number of people checking in to follow that story.   Even this blog, “Joe Duck”, became a heavily trafficked news and opinion resource for many as mainstream media struggled to cover the story accurately.

After the heroic rescue of Kati and the children and the tragic death of James Kim many  of the officials and volunteers involved in the search began to post at the blog which quickly became it’s own community.

Input from several experts in computer databases and mapping led to the idea that a blog and database might be created to help with Search and Rescue and Missing persons.  The idea was to use online tools to enhance and help with the search efforts and more quickly spread the word on cases.    Glenn has been very actively working on the database component – more on that later – and eventually we’ll try to integrate the blog and the database.

The DangerData.com blog is a very experimental effort to help find people.  It won’t be a substitute for any existing offline or online efforts, rather an attempted enhancement.    Comments are welcome.

Stanford Student Vanishes. Car Found.


Very bad news on the Zhou case.   Her car has been found and there is a body in the trunk.  No ID yet on the body but it’s probably May Zhou.

More Car: Silver 4 door 2006 Corolla Lic# 5VFG430

Student classified as “At Risk”

Police are asking the public’s help in looking for Zhou and her car. Zhou is described as an Asian woman, 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing about 120 pounds. She has brown eyes, black hair and a medium complexion. Her roommate recalled only that she’d been wearing blue jeans when she left the apartment Saturday morning.

Anyone with information about Zhou can call Stanford University police at (650) 723-9633, or after hours at (650) 329-2413.

Articles about this case