Posted on 11/05/2004 9:22:40 AM PST by cgk
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- First Coast News has learned a body has been found in Iraq and DNA testing is underway.
Multiple sources tell First Coast News Captain Scott Speicher's family has been notified.
They will not disclose the details of why they believe these are his remains only to say they have reason to feel confident these are his remains.
Test results are expected within weeks.
When I sat down with Buddy Harris, who was Speicher's best friend and is now married to Speicher's widow, he told me the family would never give up until they found what happened to him and brought him home.
They may be well on their way to learning the answer and putting this mystery and this man to rest.
From the deck of the USS Saratoga in the Red Sea., a husband and father of two from Jacksonville prepares to fight for the first time. 33 year old Lt. Commander Michael Scott Speicher, also known as "Spike", is ready for take off.
It's 1 a.m. January 17th, Speicher is part of the first mission flown over Iraq during the first Gulf War.
Within hours his squadron is in the heat of battle. The mission is deemed a success.
But when Speicher's unit returns He is the only one who is not accounted for.
From the first moments, fellow pilots and squadron mates believe the highly skilled Speicher ejected and survived.
But within hours the Pentagon announces Speicher is dead, killed in action in a mid-air explosion. There would be no recovery mission.
In 1993, U.S. Intelligence finds an American plane in better condition than expected in a remote desert in Iraq.
The plane's identification numbers confirm it is Speicher's plane.
The cockpit canopy was found some distance from the wreckage, raising the theory that Speicher ejected, survived and was captured.
First Coast News has learned the human remains, thought to be Speichers, were not found at the crash site.
The remains being tested were found in another part of Iraq.
After the initial discovery of the crash site, in an unprecedented move, the Pentagon changed Speicher's status from Killed in Action, to Missing in Action, and then later, Missing Captured.
The president even included Speicher and the fact that he was still in Iraq in a speech he gave to the nation.
Shortly into the second Gulf War, the initials M.S.S were found in a Baghdad prison.
Sources are now telling First Coast News they have information that indicates Speicher was captured after the crash and held as a prisoner for some time before he died.
However, DNA tests performed on the materials used to make the markings failed to confirm those initials found in a cell were made by Michael Scott Speicher.
His friends and family were not discouraged saying they knew the wall had been painted over several times and other things found in other prison cells supported their theory that Scott had been held at that prison.
We were the only local news station in country to sit down and talk with Buddy Harris, Speicher's best friend and now husband to Joanne Speicher Harris.
Buddy told us then that the family would never stop asking the question of what happened to Scott. And they were prepared no matter the answer.
"I cannot foresee a situation where we would just give up and go away.
I won't do it and I know my family backs me on his 100 percent in not giving up."
The family went through this once before.
Several years ago, then President of Iraq Saddam Hussein sent a pound of flesh to the United States claiming it was the remains of Scott Speicher.
The pilot's children at that time provided their DNA so the remains could be tested.
That test proved the remains were not their fathers.
The family has been through a roller coaster of emotions over the years.
They have learned to be very cautious about any new information they receive.
We expect they are taking the same approach with this latest news.
This remains a very big development.
If the tests indicate the remains are the missing the navy pilot Scott Spiechers', they will finally have an answer to the question they've asked for more than a decade.
We contacted the family's attorney, Cindy Laquidara, Thursday night for reaction to this new discovery. She had no comment for us at this time.
Now just two and-a-half months shy of the fourteenth anniversary of Speicher's disappearance, the answer may finally come in the form of DNA.
An American hero... A First Coast son... may finally return home after a very long mission.
© 2004 First Coast News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten, or redistributed.
BTTT!!!!!
2002: Pilot Believed Alive, held in Iraq
Where is the public outcry???? Praying for truth.
Speicher was reason enough to go into Iraq.
By the time the Government corrected it's error, and initiated additional searches and investigations over Spike's whereabouts, what was the woman to do, divorce her new husband pending word?
I am going to ask you and all FReepers to show a little more understanding in this difficult time.
Thanks for the ping Tonk.
Bump
May the family have answers soon.
Yeah for sure...he met Scott thru JoAnne.
Nobody attacked this woman here; I simply pointed out a clear contradiction in the story.
We can only wish this story would end in a scenario where the widow has to figure out her marital status, because that would mean Scott is still alive. But if they are doing DNA testing on the remains of someone who they strongly believe is Speicher, then this seems unlikely.
Many have prayed that this family would finally have closure about dear Scott. I hope this is really it.
Well to set the record straight..she waited one year to remarry.
I heard this on Jax news last night and reading it now makes you want to cry. God bless him. I hope this is him so he can come home.
My understanding of his history includes that he is the first officer designated KIA and then changed to MIA. They had some intelligence designating he was alive, after the Gulf War. I think, am not positive, that it had something to do with US intelligence locating his plane (the numbers on it were his), and seeing signs the pilot had ejected.
There was, from Scott's friends/family website linked above his picture up top, a sighting of him being alive in 2003. At this point, if he IS located and identified as deceased, I would be very very surprised if the cause of death came back due to a plane crash.
Again, I am no expert on this story.. but I have followed it for a time, praying this brave man, a Hero to me, comes home. There are others here who may know more than I.
I agree completely with your post. Saddam's offering of a "pound of flesh" from one of our Own, even though it was later determined to not be Scott's, was enough to invade Saddam's country and remove him. His madness is infinite.
Screw the decaf, too . . . Go have a steaming cup of high-octane stuff on me.
;-)
Sad ping..
1. Why do you think he couldn't have ejected from his aircraft?
2. If the widow is told that her husband is dead and after many years remarries, why is that wrong?
If you're a layperson as you say you are, maybe you should stick to asking questions and keep your determinations you yourself until you know more about it. And yes, your first post was critical, in spite of your backpeddling when you were called on it by Pukin.
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