TB20 Disappeared On Flight Near Mackinac Bridge In August

The body of a woman found floating near the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan, may be that of missing pilot Karen Dodds, according to family members.

As ANN reported, Dodds and her fiancé H. Brooke Stauffer, 55 of Washington DC were reported lost at 1300 hours on August 24. They were flying from Mackinac Island over Lake Huron in a four-seat Socata TB20 Trinidad (type shown below) toward Bad Axe in Michigan's Thumb region when the plane was lost.

The official search for the downed aircraft was suspended by the Michigan State Police on September 17, but area fishermen and Cheboygan County Sheriff's Department Dive Team continued to search the bottom of the lake for wreckage. Some debris was found, but the aircraft or its occupants were not recovered.

The Cheboygan Tribune reports the body of a slender woman was discovered Monday, approximately 200 yards east of the bridge's north tower near St Ignace. Michigan State Police say that it is too early to positively identify the body, and that they are missing a number of other people.

A family blog for Dodds and Stauffer, however, states Dodds' body was identified based on jewelry found on the body.

"There has not been an official declaration by the MSP that they found Karen, as dental records have not been located yet," Christian Stauffer told ANN. "However, custom jewelry was recovered with the remains that indicates to the family, 100 percent, that they had found her remains."

Dodds who is described as a passionate aviator by her family in the Internet blog used her design skills and experience as an aviator to make presentations to her clients that included aviation axioms.

Dodds, a website designer also used a vanity license plate "Avatrix" in a promotional presentation "What it takes to fly."

The family has scheduled a funeral service for Dodds on October 27 in Whitehall, MI.

FMI: http://karenandbrooke.blogspot.com/