Piper PA-32R-301T N492ST: Stolen plane crashes in Alamance County; pilot still not located. Plane stolen from Horace Williams Airport (KIGX), Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

http://registry.faa.gov/N492ST

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GRAHAM, N.C. – Detectives in Alamance County are trying to figure out what caused a stolen plane to crash near Graham Tuesday. However, that's only part of the mystery. The pilot has still not been located.

"I'll be honest with you. I'm surprised anybody walked away," said Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson.

Just after noon Tuesday, emergency crews responded to the Alamance Wildlife Club after reports of a downed plane. When they got there, investigators found a $750,000 plane crashed in the woods. But what they didn't find was the pilot.

"I've been in this business for 41 years, and yeah, this is the first stolen plane that I've worked,” said Johnson.

It turns out the plane was taken from Horace Williams Airport in Chapel Hill. The owner, Larry Warren of Efland, says he last saw it around 8:30 p.m. Monday.

"The last time I flew it was Sunday, but it had two full tanks of gas so that's probably a good five hours of flying," said Warren.

Johnson says when they got to the scene, the cockpit was in bad shape, and that tracking dogs traced the trail of blood from the woods out to Snowcamp Road and Highway 87.

"That's where the track ended,” said Johnson. “There's several services down there with pay phones and we feel like that individual could have called someone to come and pick them up."

The suspect now faces charges for theft and possession of the plane while Warren is left to pick up the pieces.

"That's like $500,000 or better there sitting out of my pocket,” said Warren. “And, you know, if the insurance covers anything out of it, it might be the loan that I have out of it but there won't be anything coming to me I'm sure."

The FAA was on scene investigating Tuesday but, because there was no death involved, they actually weren't there for long.

Johnson says they do have a suspect who was known to hang out around the airport and they hope to use DNA evidence from the plane to link him to the theft.

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