[Nigel C]

I couldn't find the old thread (old board perhaps?), so from www.news.com.au

Fossett's ID, belongings found
From correspondents in San Francisco

October 02, 2008 07:10am


Steve Fossett disappeared on pleasure flight
Declared legally dead this year
Hikers find some belongings among pine needles

HIKERS have found clothing and ID cards belonging to millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, who went missing in his plane a year ago.

"There was some various paper identification found and some clothing," said Shannon Kendall, a spokeswoman for the Mono County Sheriff's Department in California.

"We have a ground team heading out to search the area."

Ms Kendall said wreckage from the small plane Fossett was piloting when he disappeared was not found by the hikers.

Fossett's family is watching developments.

"We are aware of the reports and are trying to verify the information," said Mike LoVallo, lawyer for Fossett's widow Peggy.

Fossett, 63, vanished in his plane after taking off in the Nevada desert in September 2007.

Despite weeks of extensive land and air searches, no wreckage was found.

He was declared legally dead in February 2008 after investigators concluded his plane was destroyed in a fatal accident.

Hiker Preston Morrow told Fox News television that he had found the Federal Aviation Administration ID cards with Fossett's name on them, along with several $100 bills, while returning from a mountain hike on Tuesday.

There was no sign of any wreckage, he said.

The sweatshirt was found in an area higher up the same mountain ridge by searchers yesterday, Mr Morrow said.

"I was coming back down this really steep terrain and what caught my eye was these little (ID) cards in the dirt and the pine needles, and some $100 bills."

"I see the ID. I caught the name. I got the ID cards ... and about five or six of the hundred-dollar bills (which) were dirty and muddy," he said.

"I was wondering, why are there some ID cards and money when there was nothing else? No wallet, no bags, nothing nothing, nothing," Mr Morrow told Fox News.

Fossett held several aviation and sailing records, becoming the first person to fly a balloon solo around the world in 2002.

He disappeared after setting off from western Nevada on September 3 in a single-engine plane for what friends said was a casual pleasure flight.