11. Tail End

An icy ending seems less likely as new details surface.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
I'm floating in water, naked. Salt burns my eyes, but
it doesn't matter. There of no use. Everything is black.
I hold my hand an inch from my face, but
I can't see my fingers. Total silence. I'm in an
isolation tank. Picture a big horizontal egg, half filled with water.

(00:26):
You climb in, pull down the hatch, seal yourself in,
and float. The idea is to eliminate sensory overload, relieve anxiety,
boost creativity, focus, or conversely go blank. I don't zen out, though,
I think about this story, about how the missing men

(00:48):
likely crashed into water and drowned, About the violence of
nature and the brutality of loss, About my burning eyes.
From my heart Media, This is Missing in Alaska, the
story of two congressmen who vanished in nineteen two, and

(01:11):
my quest to figure out what happened to them. I'm
your host, John Wallzac. Full disclosure, This was supposed to
be our final episode, but we're getting so many new
leads that we'll likely be back in the future with updates.

(01:33):
For now, though, let me examine sixteen critical questions about
the disappearance and give you some unexpected answers. You'll hear
it back and forth between me and Paul Deckett are
supervising producer one. Is it really so bizarre for a
small plane to disappear in Alaska and never be found. Yes,

(01:54):
of course planes do vanish in Alaska without a trace,
but it's not the norm. In nineteen two, Air Force
Major Henry Stocker, the search commander, told reporters, quote, of
what we're looking for, we locate. Of the previous twelve
hundred planes to disappear, one official said only three had

(02:14):
never been found. An Air Force document I obtained says, quote,
had the aircraft or its occupants have been able to
send an electronic signal, the probability of detection of this
signal was. The probability of detection of fires or other
visual signals from survivors was the probability of detection of

(02:35):
the aircraft if intact in the search area was an
excess of nine. The probability of locating aircraft, wreckage or
survivors without fires or signaling devices was an excess of
in all search areas, and an excess of in the
highest probability area end quote. So, according to the Air Force,

(02:58):
there was a chance of finding wreckage in the highest
probability surge area, but still nothing, no debris, no oil
slick nothing from the plane. And even when planes do disappear,
they're often located years or decades later. Take the case
of Clearance Road, a U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service

(03:19):
official who vanished on a small plane in Alaska in
nineteen fifty. Despite a hundred and forty seven thousand square
miles search, his plane was never found either until nineteen
seventy nine, when hikers stumbled upon it in a remote
part of the Brooks Range, high above the Arctic Circle two.
Where did the plane crash, probably into Prince William Sound,

(03:43):
somewhere between Portage Pass and Henson Brook Island. The last
time anyone heard from the plane was right before it
entered the pass, but searchers found no wreckage in the past,
nor has any sign of it surfaced there in the
last fifty years. We also have a critical clue. Around
am on the morning of October six, nineteen seventy two,

(04:05):
at least one to three people described in various accounts
as a dock worker, construction worker, and or fisherman, heard
a small plane fly over Whittier, The only plane in
the vicinity of Whittier at that time was the baggage
Boggs plane, so it seems that the missing plane did
make it through Portage Pass over Whittier and onto Prince

(04:26):
William Sound. At that point, it would have been about
seventy five miles from Johnstone Point on the northern tip
of Hension Brook Island. At Johnstone there was a radio
relay that would have allowed the pilot, Don John's to
speak with the flight service specialist in Anchorage, but Don
never radioed in after crossing through Portage Pass. Why. There

(04:51):
are a few possible explanations. Don's radio broke at that
very moment, right after he crossed through Portage Pass, but
before he was within range of Johnstone. Verdict possible, but
very unlikely. Since Dawn wasn't required to make contact at Johnstone,

(05:12):
he chose not to, so he actually made it past
Hinsion Brook without checking in. But Don was known to
radio in three to four times when flying between Anchorage
and Juno, and he probably would have wanted to check
in to see if there were any new weather updates.
Verdict possible but unlikely. Don crashed right after he got

(05:36):
through Portage Pass, but before he was within range of Johnstone.
This would have had to occur during a narrow window
of time, though, say five to fifteen minutes, because once
he got through the pass he would have been within
range of the radio relay pretty quickly. Verdict possible, but
less likely. Don had a sudden emergency while he was

(06:01):
within range of Johnstone and then crashed. In this case,
even if he could radio in, he would have been
preoccupied with saving the plane. Verdict possible. On this note,
there's also a chance Don was within range of Johnstone
but too low to make contact. Maybe there was an

(06:23):
emergency and he wanted to call in, but he couldn't.
His radio was line of sight, so terrain like mountains
could have blocked a transmission. Verdict possible. Some people speculate
that Don did not cross through Portage Pass. They think
he took an alternate route without notifying the authorities. Maybe

(06:45):
he followed a rail line down to seward, crossed over water,
and then disappeared. But this doesn't take into account witness
reports of a plane crossing over Whittier that morning. Verdict possible,
but very unlike so to recap based on available evidence,

(07:05):
it's still most likely that the plane craft somewhere between
Portage Pass and Henshon Brook Island, probably into Prince William Sound.
Three was the Cessina tail Bob Martinson found around right
off Henshon Brook Island, part of the Beggage Bogg's plane.

(07:28):
Maybe the coloration, size and tail number all apparently match,
so does the location. Poor Duchess is only about ten
miles south of V three one seven, the route Don
John's planned to take on October six ninety two. That day,
if Don flew low under a cloud ceiling, he would

(07:49):
have had to circle around Hension Brook, not over it
by heading north or south. If he flew south trying
to circle around the island, and if he had an emergency,
he would have likely turned east into port Us instead
of heading out over open ocean. Once in port Ches,
he likely would have tried to cross through a low

(08:10):
pass of about a thousand feet and then attempted to
land either somewhere on Hension Book or in Cordova. Four.
What happened to the tailpiece Bob found Bob is fuzzy
on whether he, his father and only Resa there fishing
partner left the tail in the water, if they brought
it back to Cordova, or if they sent it back

(08:31):
on a tender, a type of supply boat. Bob thinks
they sent it back to Cordova on a tender. Five.
If it made it back to Cordova to the Alaska
State troopers, what happened, then where is it? Honestly, I
have no idea. I tried to track down troopers who
were stationed in Cordova around nineteen to ask them, because

(08:54):
even if they determined that it belonged to a different plane,
that's not the type of thing you forget. There should
be documentation of which plane it belonged to. Unfortunately, the
only troopers I could find have died six What happened
to the plane on October sixteenth? Why did it crash again?

(09:16):
There are multiple possible explanations, including a mechanical failure, be
whether see pilot error or d a bomb or some
other black swan event. I don't buy option a catastrophic
mechanical failure. The plane had just undergone a hundred hour

(09:36):
inspection the day before it disappeared, and then that night
Dawn flew it safely from Fairbanks to Anchorage. I know
at this very moment some pilots are squirming in their seats,
so let me explain to the general public what these
pilots have explained to me. The odds of a small
plane suffering a mechanical failure actually go up after a

(09:57):
through inspection because everything gets jostled around, etcetera. But the
higher odds are still extremely low. So option B, whether
this is what most people believe brought down the plane, specifically,
ice turbulence seems less likely. It would have been most
severe in portage pass, but the plane apparently made it

(10:21):
through the pass through the worst of it, So again ice.
To be clear, there's zero doubt that icing conditions were
present that day. The weather was undeniably bad. But it's
important to explain a few things first. When you think
of a small plane icing up and crashing, what do
you picture? Do you see it freezing into an ice

(10:42):
cube and just falling out of the sky, Because if so,
that's not how it works. The real reason ice is
so dangerous, as Don himself pointed out in his article
Ice Without Fear, which ran the same month he disappeared,
is not the weight it adds. It's because ice can
interfere with airflow, making it hard, if not impossible, for

(11:05):
small planes to climb. So you risk losing altitude, stalling
and then eventually crashing. Second, why does nearly everyone believe
ice brought down the missing plane? There are two important
reasons here. No wreckage was ever found, so zero evidence
that everyone wants some explanation. And that brings me to

(11:29):
Don John's the pilot. He's an easy scapegoat. In Ice
Without Fear, which again was on news stands when the
plane disappeared, Don made several inflammatory comments, including quote, playing
with ice is like playing with the devil. Fun but
don't play unless you can cheat. But that's only a
single line. Read the whole article. Don was wicked, smart,

(11:54):
and a damn good pilot. He survived more than seventeen
thousand hours flying and often brutal Arctic conditions. Yes, he
was arrogant, but there's a difference between arrogance born of
inexperienced youth and arrogance born of actually being good at
what you do. Now, grizzled pilots like to say there
are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old bold pilots,

(12:18):
And there's some truth to that. If you take risks,
your odds of dying obviously go up to these old Timers.
Don is a very polarizing figure. They see him as
either a genius or a fool. And this polarization is
very important because when you can bind bad weather and

(12:39):
Don's article, conditions were right for Don to take the
fall for the cocky pilot who iced up and crashed
narrative to dominate, even though since no wreckage was ever found,
that theory, too, is based entirely on speculation. Furthermore, while
evaluating the ice theory, let's take a closer look at
weather conditions that a by Alaska standards, they were actually

(13:02):
pretty mild. The surface temperature along much of the plane's
route was in the forties, well above freezing, and in
the air the freezing level was at about five to
six thousand feet. What does this tell us For argument's sake,
Let's say Don did encounter moderate to severe icing conditions. First,
as an experienced pilot, he would have known quickly that

(13:25):
he was in trouble. Second, it's extremely unlikely, almost impossible,
that ice could have built up so quickly that it
caused the plane to suddenly plummet into the sea. If
Don was flying high enough and to accumulate a significant
amount of ice, that day he would have had to
have been he would have had time to descend into
warmer air. And even if he iced up while crossing

(13:48):
through Portage Pass, he still had seventy five miles ago
before reaching hnsin Brooke. He would have been over open
water most of the time. He had time to escape
into warmer air, and he had room. Now, let's look
at the plane itself, a twin engine Cessna three ten.
See the three ten is not intended to find icing

(14:11):
conditions for any extended period of time, no matter what. Regardless,
just because the three ten encounters icing conditions doesn't mean
it will automatically crash. So other than pilot experience, the
vital question is what kind of icing equipment did the
plane have. First, you have to delineate between anti ice

(14:32):
equipment and d ice equipment. Anti ice equipment helps prevent
ice build up, d ice equipment helps remove it. According
to the NTSB's final accident report, the missing plane had
only a single piece of icing equipment, a heated pet tube,
which is a device that prevents ice from interfering with

(14:52):
air speed measurements. Past that, the NTSB report states explicitly
that the plane had no other anti I equipment, and
it makes no mention of any d ice equipment either.
Since ice is most often cited as the reason the
plane crashed, this is extremely important. Now listen closely to

(15:13):
what I'm about to tell you, because to my knowledge,
nobody has ever reported it until now. There appeared to
be major errors in the NTSB report discrepancies and omissions.
Before I go on, let me credit Mike Travis, a
pilot based in Washington State who has extensive experience flying

(15:33):
in Alaska, as the first person to notice this. Mike
and I both obtained the missing planes airworthiness records from
the f a A. Mike also obtained copies of the
plane's original records from Cessna. In these records, we found
something fascinating. It appears that the missing plane was outfitted
with three pieces of anti ice and d ice equipment

(15:56):
that we're not mentioned in the NTSB accident report. This
is a huge deal. Specifically, Mike and I found documentation
that the plane had one pneumatic d ice boots on
both its wings and horizontal stabilizer part of its tail.
Pilots inflate d ice boots to crack ice off a
plane's airframe and allow wind to carry it away. Two

(16:20):
an alcohol based anti ice propeller system which pumps anti
ice fluid onto propeller blades, and three a d ice light.
According to Andrew Kalett, a Georgia based pilot who co
hosts the defense security podcast, d ice lights let you
light up the leading edge of wings at night to
see if you're picking up ice. So why did the

(16:43):
NTSB mentioned none of this? How did the NTSB missed
three pieces of anti ice and d ice equipment on
a plane presumed have been felled by ice. The most
generous explanation is gross negligence that d NTSB just missed
the equipment. It beyond that, it's possible that the icing
equipment was removed sometime before the plane disappeared, but if

(17:07):
it was removed, that should have been documented. Finally, it's
possible that the icing equipment was there but it didn't work.
It was inoperative, so the NTSB just didn't mention it.
But the NTSB did mention a different system on the
plane that was functional but inoperative, an oxygen system that
worked but had not been serviced with oxygen. So even

(17:31):
if the plane had an operative icing equipment, the NTSB
should have mentioned it, as it did with the oxygen system.
For clarification, I called Phil Hewith, the mechanic who worked
on the missing plane the day before it disappeared. Phil
remembers that at the very least, the plane did have
functioning d ice boots, meaning not only were they not removed,

(17:52):
but they worked to recap According to FAA records, CESSNA records,
and Phil Hewith, the missing plane apparently had three pieces
of icing equipment not included in the NTSB accident report.
Why did the NTSB exclude this equipment, I don't know,
but by not including it, the NTSB helped further the

(18:15):
iced up and crashed narrative, the narrative that most people
to this day still believe. Now. The fact that the
plane had this extra equipment does not mean it's impossible
that it iceed up and crashed. It means it's less
likely the extra equipment should have bought Don John's, the pilot,
at least an additional five to ten minutes to escape

(18:36):
into better conditions and or warmer air. All together, when
you combine Don's experience, mild temperatures, and extra unreported icing
equipment not cited by the NTSB, the ice up and
crash theory seems much less likely today than at any
point in the last fifty years. So I've examined two

(19:24):
possible explanations for why the plane crashed, mechanical failure and weather.
What about the others options? See? Is pilot error? Now,
Dawn was very smart and very experienced, but that doesn't
rule out pilot error. It just means it's less likely.
For argument's sake, let's say pilot error did play a

(19:45):
role here. There are many possible scenarios, and we can't
examine them all but one, perhaps the likeliest, is that
Dawn flew too low and slammed into a mountain or glacier.
But this doesn't make sense. Remember when US has heard
a plane, probably this plane pass over Whittier, and beyond
Whittier it's mostly open water until hension brooke. That leaves

(20:09):
us with option D, the black Swan event, a bomb
or something else unexpected and extreme. Seven. Was the plane bombed?
I don't know. Eight? Could the plane have been bombed? Yes,
how maybe with the bomb triggered by a barometric pressure
or a timer or a radio receiver. The possibilities are endless.

(20:33):
Where would you hide it? Probably in the tail compartment.
Why would anyone bomb it? Well, that gets the motive
that gets to Jerry Paisley and his claims. Nine do
you think Jerry Paisley lied? I think there's a strong
possibility that he did tell the truth, at least in part.

(20:55):
And I'm not alone in that opinion. The three members
of law enforcement and the NBC producer who interviewed him
all agree with me. Look, if I thought everything Paisley
said was bullshit, I would tell you. I'm not here
to lie to you. I'm here to tell the truth
to the best of my ability. I've tried to keep
speculation to a minimum. I want you to make up

(21:15):
your own mind. But come on, you mean to tell
me that one year after congressman vanished, by pure coincidence,
his widows stumbled into a mobster, married him. And by
the way, this guy murdered five or six people, bombed
a judge's house, and had close ties to two prominent
mafia families. For argument's sake, okay, chalk it up to coincidence.

(21:37):
Twenty years after this coincidence, this guy, Jerry Paisley, tells
law enforcement a shocking story. He claims that Peggy Begett
met with mob boss Joe Bonano in Tucson in the
summer of nineteen seventy two, right before her husband, Congressman
Nick Beggett, disappeared. He claims that shortly thereafter, a Banano

(21:58):
lieutenant named Joe I Trolla or Joey the I asked
him to fly a suitcase to Anchorage. He claims he
did fly a suitcase to Anchorage. He claims that two men,
Danny Zivanich and Jean Fowler, picked him up at the
Anchorage airport, and that later that night the three of
them met up with Jean's brother Larry. He claims that
after he, Peggy and Zivinich went into business in nineteen

(22:21):
seventy four, Zivinas told him that Peggy owed him because
he quote blew her old man out of the sky. Now,
what of Paisley's story? Can we prove? Paisley did marry
Peggy Baggage. Paisley and Peggy did go into business with Zivinage.
Paisley did have close ties to to mob families, the

(22:43):
Bananas and the Lick of Olie's. Paisley did murder people
and conduct bombings. The rest I'm not a hundred percent sure,
but if Paisley's claims are true, if I'd speculate the
following things. One, Jean and Larry four were bit players.
Jeane was paid to pick up Paisley at the airport

(23:04):
and not ask questions, and the three men just hung
out that night with Larry. Two Joeyah Tarrola was also
a bit player. He ran an errand for his boss. Three.
Paisley knew more than he led on, but he was
still mostly a bit player. Four. As for Danny Zivinag,
he's a cipher. I don't know much about him. He

(23:25):
was in the military, moved to Alaska and was a bartender.
Next thing you know, he owns fifty of Max Inc.
The company he started with Peggy and Paisley. Five. The
Mob would have gotten involved for one of two reasons. First,
there's always a direct payment. Give us money, We'll give
you a bomb. Second, and I think this is more

(23:46):
likely if Peggy won nick seat and she did run
for it, the mob would have had Alaska's only congress
person in its back pocket. During a gold rush time,
the oil boom, when there were moves and money to
be made. You could ask well, why go through all
that trouble? Why not bribe or blackmail Nick Baggage instead?

(24:07):
And my answer would be that every single person I've interviewed,
and I mean every person, said Nick was clean and
a man of integrity. I don't think he could be
bought off or blackmailed. Six If the plane was bombed,
why do it with hail bogs on board? To that,
I'd say, if someone bombed the plane, they would have

(24:27):
had the factor in the likelihood that wreckage would be
found and a bomb identified as the cause of the crash.
And then who would everyone pinpoint as the target, the
nerdy first term congressman from Alaska or the House Majority
leader who served on the Warrant Commission seven? Why would
Peggy get involved? Though her son Tom denies it, multiple

(24:49):
people told me that Peggy's marriage to Nick was strained,
that they were separated and considering a divorce. Peggy met
Nick in Minnesota when Nick was a young twenties something
high school teacher, her high school teacher. They got married,
moved to Alaska, had six kids, and then Nick was
gone most of the time. Working documents show that Peggy

(25:10):
got about a million dollars in today's dollars after Nick disappeared. Eight.
Even if Paisley told the truth, it's possible Peggy did
not know what she was getting herself into. She could
have been manipulated and used. Nine. Paisley might have told
the truth in part. It might not be so simple

(25:31):
as he lied or he told the truth. Maybe he
told part of the truth. And this leads me to
an interesting theory. When I sat down with Tom Davis,
the Arizona investigator who observed Paisley's wedding to Peggy in
nineteen seventy four and interviewed Paisley in he pointed out

(25:51):
something interesting in the red dot photos, the Peggy Paisley
wedding photos. Every person connected to organized crime is tie
primarily to the lick of OLiS, not the bananas. Heck,
even Pete Lackavoli Jr. Himself is there, but none of
the bananas. In addition, the Conti Qui, where Paisley claimed

(26:12):
Peggy met with Joe Bonano, was owned, at least in part,
not by the bananas but by the lick of OLiS.
Also in nineteen seventy four, Joeya Tarola or Joey the I,
the man who allegedly gave Paisley the suitcase filled with explosives,
was secretly photographed at a Tucson golf tournament with two
of Paisley's friends, Sal Spinelli and Pete Likavoli Jr. Finally,

(26:38):
in FBI records, I found something very interesting. An FBI
memo dated October six, nineteen seventy two, only ten days
before the congressman disappeared, states that Jerry Paisley was spotted
in September nineteen seventy two, around the same time he
claimed to have transported explosives to Anchorage with Pete Likavoli Sr.

(27:00):
The Big Boss. Here's part of the memo with the
word blank substituted in for redacted sections. Quote source advised
that on nine, nineteen seventy two, Jerry Max Paisley and
Pete Lookavoli Senior had been in the Hilton Inn bar together.
During the time they were in the bar, they blank.
Source stated that she had heard that Paisley was presently

(27:22):
residing at the Hilton Inn motel. End quote. And there's
a second FBI memo quote On September twenty one, nineteen
seventy two, p x T DASH two advised that on Blank,
Jerry Max Paisley and Pete Lookavoli Senor had been in
the Hilton Inn bar together. During the time that they

(27:43):
were in the bar together, they were also joined by blank.
Source stated he had heard that Paisley was presently residing
at the Hilton Inn motel end quote. So, per two
FBI memos, Jerry Paisley was observed with Pete Lackavoli year
in Tucsson on September nineteenth, nineteen seventy two, only twenty

(28:05):
seven days before the congressman disappeared again. Paisley claimed that
Peggy Beggett visited Tusson sometime around August nineteen seventy two,
and that about two weeks later he transported a lock
suitcase with explosives to Anchorage. So why would Paisley blame
the bananas instead of the lick of OLiS. I don't know.

(28:26):
Maybe he wanted to protect them, Maybe he wanted to
protect himself by changing key details. At this point, let
me pause because I need to correct an error I
made in two previous episodes. In episodes four and eight,
I stated that Peggy Beggett and Jerry Paisley were accompanied
on their honeymoon to Mexico in nineteen seventy four by

(28:48):
Pete lick of Ol Jr. And his wife Cathy. That's incorrect.
Cathy is Pete's sister, not his wife. So my correction
is this. Peggy Beggett and Jerry pay Easily were accompanied
in March nineteen seventy four on their honeymoon to Mexico
by Pete lack of Ole Jr. And his sister Cathy
two of mob boss Pete look Ofoly seniors children ten.

(29:38):
Whether or not his claims are true, why did Paisley
make them at all? Why did he speak to law enforcement?
I don't know. However, I've said it before and I'll
say it again. It is possible Paisley just lied. Maybe
there's no good reason why. Maybe he was just an asshole.
But beyond lying for the fun of it, I struggled

(29:58):
to see any logic a reason why he would make
these claims if they were false. He got no time
off his sentence, no media attention, no money, and he
did not express a boiling hatred of Peggy Baggage. In fact,
if you read the transcript, even Paisley speculates that she
didn't really know what she got herself into. In an email,

(30:20):
Tom Beggatt told me, quote, my family is wearied by
the things people like Jerry have said for their moment
of fame or notoriety. End quote. But to Tom, I'd
ask this, what fame? What notoriety? Paisley spoke about this
with one journalist before he died. He did not embark
on a publicity campaign. Paisley even asked his biographer Sean

(30:43):
Atwood to use a pseudonym after he died, and in
Atwood's book The Mafia Philosopher, there's no mention of the
alleged bombing, something you'd figure Paisley would want if he
craved fame. Finally, if what he wanted was fame and glory,
why would Paisley downplay his role, Because in the bombing narrative,

(31:04):
he's not some badass mob guy. He's a glorified delivery
man who flew a suitcase from Tucson to Anchorage. Past speculation,
is there anything that backs up paisley story, even parts
of it? In short? Maybe Paisley told investigators that when
Peggy Begetts visited Tucson around August nineteen seventy two, he

(31:27):
used a fake name to book her a room at
the Spanish Trail Motel. In the FBI records I obtained,
there are conveniently multiple memos detailing where Paisley lived at
various points during the summer of nineteen seventy two. June one,
nineteen seventy two, the Thailand's Motel August eighteen, nineteen seventy two,

(31:48):
the Spanish Trail Motel September twenty one, nineteen seventy two,
the Hilton Inn. So the FBI records document that not
only did Paisley live at the Spanish Trail Mode Tell
in August nineteen seventy two, when Peggy Baggage allegedly stayed there,
but also that Paisley moved frequently. So if Paisley lied,

(32:10):
he had an amazing ability twenty four years later to
remember exactly where he lived during one month in the
summer of nineteen seventy two, so that he could incorporate
that detail into his lie twelve. Did you find anything
else in the FBI records? Yes, and it's weird again.
Let me read you part of an FBI memo using

(32:32):
the word blank for redacted sections. Quote on August twenty three,
nineteen seventy two Blank telephone. Blank advised that he had
received information from his Blank that during the early part
of August nineteen seventy two, Blank had told her that
he had been brought to the Tucson area by the
chief of the FBI in New Orleans. He stated that

(32:53):
this trip had been made on an FBI jet aircraft
and at several other agents, possibly from the Albuquerque area,
had a companied Blank and the agent from New Orleans.
Blank stated that he was told by Blank that upon
their arrival at Tucson, all of the individuals interviewed Jerry
Paisley at the airport, and that Paisley had been taken
to the airport by local Tucson FBI agents end quote.

(33:18):
So here in an FBI memo we have an allegation
that Jerry Paisley was taken to the Tucson airport in
early August nineteen seventy two and interviewed by FBI agents.
Does the idea of the plane being bombed make any sense? Yes,
here's what we know. The missing plane likely made it

(33:39):
through Portage Pass within five to fifteen minutes. It would
have been within range of the radio relay at Johnstone Point.
But the pilot Don John's never radioed in again. So,
as far as I can tell, something catastrophic and sudden
caused the plane to crash. I've told you why. I
think mechanical failure and pilot error are unlikely. So what

(34:00):
does that leave fourteen? Aren't you reading too much into this?
The simplest explanations still is that the plane iced up
and crashed. The weather was bad that day. Yes, the
weather was bad, But let's do an exercise. Let's say
you put a bomb in my trunk and I drive
off a cliff during a blizzard. Nobody finds me. Does

(34:22):
the fact that I drove off a cliff in a
blizzard mean the bomb wasn't in my trunk? Aren't you
being extremely unfair to Peggy begat in my opinion? No.
I gave Miss Baggett and her family plenty of opportunities
to tell their side of the story. Except for Tom
Beggatt's emails, they declined to answer any questions, and Charles

(34:44):
wolf Fourth, their friend, the author who investigated Paisley's claims
but never published them, posted a message with multiple inaccuracies
on Facebook last year warning people not to work with me.
I still want to tell Peggy side of the story.
She always has an open invitation to do an interview.
The Beggage is probably figured it was wise not to

(35:06):
speak with me to deny the story oxygen and hey,
it worked to some degree. As of this recording, no
media in Alaska except the Fairbanks Daily News Miner has
reported this story. Still, it's especially egregious, in my opinion,
that the Anchorage Daily News hasn't covered it at all.
Six So what now? Two things? First, the FBI should

(35:31):
reopen its investigation into Jerry Paisley's claims. There are people
alive who have answers. It's not too late. Also, the
Bureau should examine how the case was handled in the
nineteen nineties. Second, someone should conduct a full search for
the plane in and around port Edges where Bob Martinson
found the tailpiece. We searched, but obviously we don't have

(35:56):
the resources of say the federal government or James camp Rent.
Now we could go back with more equipment, So if
you're listening and you want to fund another search, email
us seriously. If we go back to Port Uches. In
addition to r o v s or remotely operated vehicles,
we need at least three other things, a magnetometer, a

(36:18):
toe behind metal detector, and side scan sonar. A magnetometer
would allow us to detect certain metals ferris metals like
iron and steel, but not aluminum. It would allow us
to search for parts of the plane like the engines.
A toe behind metal detector, on the other hand, would
allow us to detect aluminum, and side scan sonar would

(36:40):
allow us to look at the sea floor. With this equipment,
if the baggage box plane is in port edges, there's
a good chance we could find it. Regardless of what
comes of this show, whether or not the FBI reopens
its investigation or another search is conducted in Port Uches,
I will continue to investigate new leads, and we are

(37:01):
getting them every day. For now, though, this is a
story with no ending, but even stories with no ending
deserve to be told. But wait, only a few days
ago after we finalize this episode, we got some startling

(37:22):
new information. So even though this was supposed to be
our final episode, we'll be back. However, at this point
we're reporting the story in real time, meaning we can't
publish every week. Stay tuned. No task this week. Instead,
Questions for the Alaska news media, especially the Anchorage Daily News.

(37:46):
How long can you ignore the story? When will you
report it? And why haven't you reported it? Ever? You
can reach us by phone at one eight three three
m I A Tips. That's one eight three three six
four two eight four seven seven again one eight three
three six four two eight four seven seven, Or you

(38:09):
can reach us via email at tips at iHeart media
dot com. That's tips, T I P s at I
heeart media dot com. And you've already been very helpful.
Among other things, you helped us find Joe Tatum, the
last man alive who heard the bizarre radio transmission the
day of the plane vanished. You helped us find Alex Dressler,

(38:31):
the reporter who observed Peggy and Paisley's wedding. Dressler did
not respond to interview requests regardless, thanks to Michael Knacka
for helping us find him. Finally, you also helped us
figure out that the photo everyone thought was the last
known photo of the missing congressman is actually not the
last known photo of them. There are others. Unfortunately, the

(38:53):
photographer who did take the final known photos did not
respond to interview requests. An important note, none of the
people Jerry Paisley claimed took part in or had knowledge
of the alleged bombing. Joe Banano, joeyat Tarrola, Danny Zevinich,
Gene Fowler, Larry Fowler, or Peggy Begat where ever charged

(39:13):
with or convicted of any crimes tied to any of
Paisley's allegations. Peggy Begat and Danny Zevenich declined multiple interview requests.
Gene Fowler was unavailable for an interview. Joe Banano, joeyat Trolla,
and Larry Fowler are dead. Pete Lacavoli Jr. And Mike
Lackavoli did not respond to multiple interview requests. We were

(39:34):
unable to reach Kathy Lookavoli. Pete Lakavoi Senior is dead.
Ben Bowen is our executive producer. Paul Decant is our
supervising producer. Chris Brown is our assistant producer. Seth Nicholas
Johnson is our producer. Sam T. Garden is our research assistant.
And I'm your host and executive producer, John Wallzac. You
can find me on Twitter at at John Wallzac, j

(39:57):
O n w A l se z A k. Our
team has been amazing. Ben Paul, Chris Seth, and Sam
thank you and thank you to I Heart for supporting
this show. Paul is also a filmmaker. He directed a
movie that came out last year called Annie in the City.
Check it out on Amazon, A, n n E y

(40:20):
in the City. On a personal note, thank you to
my friends and family, especially the three fearless women who
helped raise me, my mom, aunt and grandma and my
dad too. A shout out to my alma mater umc Asheville,
and a special thanks to Jen and Rob for studio
space and for your support. Missing in Alaska is a

(40:40):
work of investigative journalism. I spent nine years researching this story,
but most journalists don't have the luxury of spending years,
or months or even weeks on a single story. To
that end, please support local media, regardless of your politics.
A strong local press is vital to hold everyone accountable,
and I'd like to ask you a favor. If you can,

(41:03):
please donate to the Lens, a small nonprofit news outlet
in my city, New Orleans. Go to the Lens NOLA
dot org. That's the Lens Nola dot org. Finally, there's
also an amazing nonprofit that cleans up marine debris and
Prince William Sound called Gulf of Alaska Keeper or go
a k Thank you to Chris Pallister, who founded the

(41:26):
organization for consulting with us before our trip to henshin
Brook Island. You can learn more about and donate to
go a K at go a k dot org. That's
go a k dot org. Missing in Alaska is a
co production of I Heart Media and Greenfork Media.