BOIS BLANC ISLAND, Mich. (WZMQ) – Michigan State Police and other search teams discovered the wreckage from a plane crash on Lake Huron 17 years ago that killed two people.
In August 2007, a SOCATA TB-20 Trinidad airplane crashed into Lake Huron while en route to Bad Axe from Mackinac Island. A large-scale search began for the 52-year-old female pilot and the 56-year-old male passenger, both from Washington, DC, but the plane was never found.
On October 8, 2007, human remains were found in the Straits of Mackinac east of the Mackinac Bridge. The remains were determined to be the pilot. The search for the passenger and plane wreckage was eventually called off.
In October 2023, Great Lakes Search & Recovery, a private company, resumed the search efforts at the request of family members. In August 2024, the search team discovered plane wreckage near Bois Blanc Island and reported the discovery to MSP.
The MSP Marine Services Team collected evidence from the crash site, which led investigators to believe it was wreckage from the 2007 plane crash. As state police divers searched the wreckage, a set of skeletal remains was found at the site. Those remains were given to the Center for Forensic Anthropology at Northern Michigan University for identification. Through dental records, the remains were positively identified as the 56-year-old passenger.
Michigan State Police “credits the amazing work done by Great Lakes Search and Recovery to help bring closure to the victims’ families.”
