Denver DISMEMBERED!

[Erika]

Denver Bought Experimental Plane Day Before Crash

October 14, 1997 2:00 AM EDT

By Thom Akeman

PACIFIC GROVE, Calif. (Reuters) - An aviation official investigating the
airplane crash that killed country-pop star John Denver said Monday the
singer bought his experimental plane just one day before its fatal crash.

Denver, the boyish, upbeat singer famed for such infectious songs as ``Rocky
Mountain High'' and ``Thank God I'm a Country Boy,'' died Sunday evening when
the experimental Long-EZ plane he was piloting nosedived into the Pacific
Ocean and disintegrated on impact.

Denver's body was severely dismembered in the crash, and authorities could
not positively identify the singer until fingerprint records were flown in
Monday from his home in Colorado.

It took until Monday evening for emergency workers to retrieve all of
Denver's major body parts, including his head.

George Petterson, an official with the National Transportation Safety Board,
told a news conference that investigators were trying to piece the aircraft
back together and were months away from determining a cause for the crash.

``At this point we don't have an airplane to work with,'' Petterson told
reporters when asked what might have caused the crash. ``No conclusions have
been reached.''

Petterson said Denver bought the composite Fiberglass plane Saturday in Santa
Maria, a small city on the California coast about 100 miles south of
Monterey.

Denver flew Saturday to Santa Maria from Colorado to take delivery of the
experimental airplane. An experienced pilot, Denver then flew the Long-EZ to
Monterey, the picturesque town where he maintained a home.

Lt. David Allard, a spokesman for the Monterey County Sheriff's Office, said
the reults of an autopsy showed that the official cause of death was multiple
blunt force trauma and that death was instantaneous.

Allard also said the coroner's office had performed toxicology tests on
Denver's body, and that the results of those tests would not be available for
another 10 to 14 days.

Petterson said investigators were trying to track Denver's activities in the
hours leading up to Sunday's crash. It appeared Denver told officials at
Monterey Peninsula Airport that he was going to fly the airplane for one
hour.

Denver made three quick take-offs and landings and then asked airport
officials for permission to go for a full flight. Officials in the control
tower granted him permission but asked him to turn on his transponder code, a
device that allows planes to be tracked on radar screens.

The transponder did not appear to be working and officials asked Denver to
turn it off and on. His last words to the control tower were: ``Do you have
it now?'' Moments later, officials lost the plane's signal.

Petterson said Denver's plane was built about 10 years ago, but investigators
were unable to determine who built the plane or who owned it before Denver.
Those records were in a federal office in Oklahoma City that was closed
Monday because of the Columbus Day holiday.

Denver's futuristic, Y-shaped Long-EZ was designed in 1979 and was one of
about 1,000 currently in use, including two that recently made
round-the-world trips. Aviation experts call the Long-EZ a safe craft to fly.

Denver reached the peak of his fame in the 1970s as a singer who moved
between country, folk and pop music. Among his best known hits were ``Rocky
Mountain High,'' ``Take Me Home, Country Roads'' and ``Annie's Song,''
written for his first wife, from whom he was divorced.

Reuters/Variety

© Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Erika Linden Green-Chicago,IL...egreen@interaccess.com

Social Security is:
Having a chilled bottle of Champagne in your refrigerator at all times.

<http://www.design.chi.il.us/konijn>

[Stephen Gilliard]

On 14 Oct 1997 20:49:59 GMT, egreen*@*cybergal*.SPAMBLOCKER.com.NOSPAM
(Erika) wrote:

>Denver Bought Experimental Plane Day Before Crash
>
>October 14, 1997 2:00 AM EDT
>
>By Thom Akeman
>

>>Denver's body was severely dismembered in the crash, and authorities could
>not positively identify the singer until fingerprint records were flown in
>Monday from his home in Colorado.
>
>It took until Monday evening for emergency workers to retrieve all of
>Denver's major body parts, including his head.
>

K-Tel presents the John Denver Jigsaw puzzle. Put him back together.
Provides hours of fun as you search for the right body part. The
yellow ones are airplane parts. Bring the whole family together,
search for John Denver's body.

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/7600
The Gilliard News

[cathy wade]

are you serious? you have the mind of a sociopath.