BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A plane stolen from a small airport in Indiana crashed off the coast of the Bahamas and police suspect Colton Harris-Moore may have been the pilot.
The Bloomington Herald-Times reported Monday that local police suspected Harris-Moore, 19, was in the area after a car stolen in Illinois was recovered nearby on June 30.
Monroe County Airport manager Bruce Payton told the local paper that Harris-Moore was suspected of stealing a small plane sometime over the weekend. The plane was recovered crash-landed off the coast of the Bahamas, U.S. Coast Guard officials told the Herald-Times.
It was unclear if there were any survivors.
Harris-Moore is suspected in a string of crimes across the country beginning in Washington, then extending to Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. Police along the way have confirmed they evidence pinning the 19-year-old Camano Island fugitive to burglaries at small airports and car thefts.
Since escaping from a Seattle-area group home in April 2008, he’s suspected in at least five small airplane thefts despite no formal flight training.
His mother, Pam Kohler, recently told The Herald that she hoped her son would steal a plane and flee the country.
The flight from central Indiana to the Bahamas is about 1,200 miles.
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