MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. — Investigators finished up Friday at the scene of Steve Fossett's plane crash in the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada just as dark clouds rolled in and winds picked up ahead of a storm that threatened to bury any remaining evidence under 2 feet of snow.
They discovered three more bone fragments Friday, said Madera County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Erica Stuart. Like a piece found the day before, they will be sent to a lab to determine whether they are human and a match for Fossett, the famous adventurer.
Teams of volunteers, as well as local and federal search crews, had furiously combed the site for any evidence that could help piece together the mystery of Fossett's plane crash more than a year ago.
Mangled and charred plane parts and other bundles of debris were headed to a warehouse in Sacramento where investigators planned to lay them out for examination. There were a lot of pieces, "consistent with a high-energy impact, which means the aircraft was traveling at great speed," Mark Rosenker, acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a media briefing.
"We'll be looking at the entire fuselage to make sure nothing broke off to cause the accident," he said.
Fossett vanished Sept. 3, 2007, during what was supposed to be a short pleasure flight from a Nevada ranch owned by his friend, Barron Hilton.
Despite several searches by air and on the ground over the past year, efforts to find his single-engine plane had been unsuccessful. The break came this week when a hiker found Fossett's identification cards in a remote wilderness area near Mammoth Lake about 65 miles southwest of Hilton's ranch.
Thrill-seeker Fossett gained worldwide fame for setting records in high-tech balloons, gliders, jets and boats. In 2002, he became the first person to circle the world solo in a balloon. Investigators wondered if weather had anything to do with the fatal crash.