Police: Indiana Businessman Faked Plane Crash Death

MILTON, Fla. -- Authorities in Alabama and Florida are looking for an Indiana man who apparently tried to fake his own death by bailing out of a single-engine plane before it crashed in the Florida panhandle Sunday night.

Marc Schrenker, 38, called an air traffic control tower as he flew near Huntsville, Ala., telling controllers that his plane was experiencing severe turbulence, the FAA said.

Schrenker later reported that the plane's windshield had imploded and that he was bleeding profusely.

Schrenker's Piper PA-36 went down at about 9:20 p.m. in Milton, Fla., hours after it left Anderson, Ind. Flight controllers lost contact when the plane was over Gadsden, Ala.

Rescue crews were not able to find Schrenker at the scene of the crash, but military pilots who had been called to the scene to escort the plane down as it crashed in a swampy area reported that the cockpit door was open and no one was inside as the plane went down.

Schrenker, who lives near Geist Reservoir, had apparently parachuted out of the plane, according to a release from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Department.

The Childersburg, Ala., Police Department said a man who came to an officer and told him that he and some friends had been in a canoeing accident was Schrenker.

Police said Schrenker was taken to a nearby hotel to clean up and that police in that community didn't know about the plane crash at that time.

Investigators said Schrenker checked into the hotel under a fake name and was not there when they arrived.

WEAR-TV reported that Schrenker had been under investigation in a money laundering case.

Schrenker, of Heritage Wealth Management, flies at least once a week and is also an accomplished aerobatic pilot.