Diamond Point: ‘High probability’ missing plane crashed in Puget Sound

The state search coordinator for a missing Cessna airplane that took off from Diamond Point on Feb. 29 says there’s a “high probability” it crashed and sank in Puget Sound near Heron Island in Pierce County.

Tom Peterson is asking the Navy base at Keyport for a sonar-equipped boat to help search for the plane. The water is about 140 feet deep at the location.

Peterson says an oil slick at the site could be coming from the plane. He also says residents on the island heard a splash and saw what they thought was a sail sinking in the water. They didn’t associate the incident with the plane until this weekend, after hearing news reports of the search.

The single-engine Cessna 170 had two men on board and failed to return to Auburn. The pilot was David Verstrate, 65, of Federal Way, and the passenger was his brother-in-law, Harold Bennett, 59, of Puyallup.