Wanted pilot’s life had been falling apart

Harpersville, Ala. —- An Atlanta investor who had entrusted money to an Indiana financial manager suspected of trying to fake his own death in a plane crash said Tuesday he had complained to state regulators that the man was unfairly charging high fees and pocketing the money.

The complaint was among signs that Marcus Schrenker’s life was crumbling around him before he took off Sunday in his small plane, then apparently parachuted over Alabama, leaving the plane on autopilot to crash in Florida.

But the captivating three-day saga came to an end when authorities finally caught up to Schrenker in North Florida. Gadsden County Sheriff’s Lt. Jim Corder said late Tuesday night that police there had Schrenker in custody.

The Indiana Department of Insurance had filed a complaint against Schrenker on behalf of seven investors last January that claimed he cost them more than $250,000 because he never told them they would face high fees to switch annuities. Investors said he cozied up to their families —- then betrayed them.

“We’ve learned over time that he’s a pathological liar —- you don’t believe a single word that comes out of his mouth,” said Charles Kinney, a 49-year-old airline pilot from Atlanta who went to regulators on behalf of his parents, who had invested $900,000 of their life savings with Schrenker.

A hearing in the case had been scheduled for next week. On Tuesday, a judge ordered Schrenker arrested on fraud charges.

Kinney said Schrenker became so close to his parents that he even vacationed with them at their Georgia lake house. But he claims Schrenker never told his parents that a transaction to transfer their money to a deferred annuity would cost them more than $135,000 in “surrender penalties.” Later, his brother discovered $60,000 was missing from his father-in-law’s account —- something he said Schrenker explained by saying the money was in complex financial statements.

Schrenker’s disappearance perplexed authorities in three states as they scrambled to put together the pieces of what looked like an elaborate plan to escape financial doom. In the days before the crash, Schrenker’s home and business had been searched by authorities probing his financial management businesses, his wife filed for divorce, his stepfather died and a court in Maryland entered a half-million-dollar judgment against him.

The mystery began Sunday night, when Schrenker’s plane went down en route to Destin, Fla., from Anderson, Ind.

Schrenker had reported that the windshield imploded and that he was bleeding profusely, officials said.

After he stopped responding to air traffic controllers, military jets tried to intercept the plane. Noticing that the door was open and the cockpit was dark, they followed it until it crashed in a Florida bayou surrounded by homes.

Investigators think Schrenker’s plan was to bail out over Alabama and let the plane fly to the Gulf and crash in the water, slowing the investigation.

But the plane ran out of fuel first.

Police in Childersburg, Ala., southeast of Birmingham, said they picked up a man using Schrenker’s Indiana driver’s license and took him to a motel. The man was wet from the knees down and told the officers he had been in a canoe accident.

By the time police learned of the crash investigation and returned to the motel, the man was gone. They learned he had paid for his room in cash before putting on a black cap and running into the woods.

On Tuesday, the case took another cinematic turn when police said they had learned that Schrenker had parked a red Yamaha motorcycle with packed saddlebags in a storage unit about 7 miles from Childersburg. The motorcycle was gone, and damp jeans, wet gray socks, hiking boots and a T-shirt were in a trash bin nearby, authorities said.

Schrenker had rented the unit Saturday under the name Jay, paying cash, and told the manager he would be back for his belongings, said Wanda Brooks, whose family owns the storage business.

Meanwhile, in Indiana, Schrenker’s neighbor Tom Britt said he received an e-mail Monday night from Schrenker claiming the crash was an accident.

Britt believes the e-mail is real, but its authenticity has not been verified.

Britt quoted Schrenker as saying, “I embarrassed my family for the last time” and “by the time you get this, I’ll be gone.” Britt turned the e-mail over to authorities, fearing it was a suicide note.

In the e-mail, Schrenker asked Britt to set the record straight, claiming the accident was caused when the window on the plane’s pilot side imploded, spraying him with glass and reducing cabin pressure.

“Hypoxia can cause people to make terrible decisions and I simply put on my parachute and survival gear and bailed out,” the e-mail said.

The search for Schrenker ended Tuesday.

“He could be anywhere at all. Within 10 hours, he could be in New Orleans, halfway to Houston, in Atlanta, anywhere,” Harpersville Police Chief David Latimer said before Schrenker’s capture.

 Associated Press 
FLEEING AUTHORITIES 
Indiana businessman Marcus Schrenker may have put together an elaborate plan to escape a failed marriage and financial problems. He was supposedly flying to Destin, Fla.
He takes off in a single-engine plane on Sunday night
Officials believe he put plane on autopilot and parachuted; fled on motorcycle he placed in storage on Saturday 
Plane crashed in a Santa Rosa County bayou near some homes 
Map shows solid and dotted lines to distinguish where the plane was piloted and on autopilot.
Source: ESRI