Bones, shoes, license found near site of Fossett plane crash

MADERA, Calif. (AP) — Searchers have found what appear to be two large human bones near the crash site of Steve Fossett’s plane in California’s Sierra Nevada, along with the adventurer’s tennis shoes and driver’s license, authorities said Thursday.

Madera County Sheriff John Anderson said at a news conference that the bones were found Wednesday about a half-mile east of the crash site. Investigators have sent them to a Department of Justice testing lab and should know in about a week whether they are Fossett’s.

Anderson said searchers also found Fossett’s tennis shoes, his Illinois driver’s license and credit cards. The shoes and driver’s license had animal bite marks on them.

“This reinforces our theory that animals dragged him away,” Anderson said.

Previous bone fragments discovered near the wreckage were either found to be not human or too small for DNA tests. Investigators have completed their work on the ground and do not plan to resume search efforts, Anderson said.

Fossett vanished in September 2007 after taking off from a Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton during what was supposed to be a short pleasure flight.