Shadow205
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2005
- Messages
- 3,755
- Reaction score
- 1,428
FORT PIERCE In the more than 20 years his brother has been missing, Tony DiFrancesco has heard all the stories.
His brother's plane crashed in the middle of the ocean. His brother is locked away in a South American jail. His brother was killed in an orange grove and buried out west of town.
<snip>
What is known for sure is that Patrick DiFrancesco disappeared on Aug. 26, 1985, and his family has heard nothing from him since.
"There've been rumors ever since he disappeared," Tony DiFrancesco said. "They didn't find him in jail, hospitals, nothing. I called all of them ... people don't just disappear into thin air like that."
<snip>
Tony DiFrancesco, who runs Tri-County Towing, now is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of his brother or the discovery of the plane he was flying the night he vanished. The family believes if the missing plane is found, it will confirm DiFrancesco is dead.
<snip>
Part of the mystery that surrounds DiFrancesco's disappearance comes from his ties to the drug trade. His family knew he was involved in bringing drugs into St. Lucie County and think he was supposed to be picking up a shipment in a plane that night. DiFrancesco, who had his student pilot license at the time, reportedly left the area in a plane with James Woodford "Buddy" Johnson, a 61-year-old pilot who also is missing. It was supposed to be a one-night trip, with DiFrancesco returning in a day.
<snip>
He was last seen at a home on Sunrise Drive in Fort Pierce and the missing person's report from 1985 is a single page with three sentences. The report says he was supposed to go to the Bahamas or St. Thomas and a note at the bottom indicated DiFrancesco was in jail in Jamaica. Later, investigation by the family revealed this was only a rumor, not fact. Nearly a decade after the disappearance, the search was reopened and the family offered a $10,000 reward for information, but nothing came of it.
<snip>
Still, the tips seemed to confirm an old rumor that DiFrancesco was buried with an airplane out west of town and the family learned about a general location. Last fall, they hired experts to fly over and analyze the ground with a magnetometer to see if it could be detected. The outline of what appeared to be a plane was spotted and with the landowner's permission, the family brought in a bulldozer and backhoe to dig up the ground. Ultimately, some old pipes were found, but no plane.
<snip>
For Tony DiFrancesco's part, he hopes that he can finally put to a rest a mystery that has torn at his family for the better part of two decades. "I won't stop. We aren't going to stop," he said. "Just finding the plane would be reward enough. Tell us where it is and we'll find it."
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_16736_4715063,00.html
His brother's plane crashed in the middle of the ocean. His brother is locked away in a South American jail. His brother was killed in an orange grove and buried out west of town.
<snip>
What is known for sure is that Patrick DiFrancesco disappeared on Aug. 26, 1985, and his family has heard nothing from him since.
"There've been rumors ever since he disappeared," Tony DiFrancesco said. "They didn't find him in jail, hospitals, nothing. I called all of them ... people don't just disappear into thin air like that."
<snip>
Tony DiFrancesco, who runs Tri-County Towing, now is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of his brother or the discovery of the plane he was flying the night he vanished. The family believes if the missing plane is found, it will confirm DiFrancesco is dead.
<snip>
Part of the mystery that surrounds DiFrancesco's disappearance comes from his ties to the drug trade. His family knew he was involved in bringing drugs into St. Lucie County and think he was supposed to be picking up a shipment in a plane that night. DiFrancesco, who had his student pilot license at the time, reportedly left the area in a plane with James Woodford "Buddy" Johnson, a 61-year-old pilot who also is missing. It was supposed to be a one-night trip, with DiFrancesco returning in a day.
<snip>
He was last seen at a home on Sunrise Drive in Fort Pierce and the missing person's report from 1985 is a single page with three sentences. The report says he was supposed to go to the Bahamas or St. Thomas and a note at the bottom indicated DiFrancesco was in jail in Jamaica. Later, investigation by the family revealed this was only a rumor, not fact. Nearly a decade after the disappearance, the search was reopened and the family offered a $10,000 reward for information, but nothing came of it.
<snip>
Still, the tips seemed to confirm an old rumor that DiFrancesco was buried with an airplane out west of town and the family learned about a general location. Last fall, they hired experts to fly over and analyze the ground with a magnetometer to see if it could be detected. The outline of what appeared to be a plane was spotted and with the landowner's permission, the family brought in a bulldozer and backhoe to dig up the ground. Ultimately, some old pipes were found, but no plane.
<snip>
For Tony DiFrancesco's part, he hopes that he can finally put to a rest a mystery that has torn at his family for the better part of two decades. "I won't stop. We aren't going to stop," he said. "Just finding the plane would be reward enough. Tell us where it is and we'll find it."
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_16736_4715063,00.html