As a police investigator and fugitive detective, Randy Roby cracked many cases throughout his career in Howard County, Md. Now retired, one case that has haunted him nearly all of his adult life is bringing him back to Jefferson City.
It's a Jefferson City-area case that, 47 years later, is still something of a mystery. And to Roby, it's personal: It involves an airplane crash that claimed the life of his brother Tom.
"When I turned 65 in April of last year, I created my bucket list, and this is one of the things I've wanted to do," he said.
His brother, Thomas Roby, graduated from the Air Force Academy in June 1967. The 22-year-old was one of the top 10 percent of the class selected for fighter pilot training. After the graduation, Tom and Randy Roby took a road trip from the academy in Colorado back to their home state of Maryland. It was the last time Randy would spend quality time with his brother, and he still cherishes memories of that trip.
At the urging of his superiors, Tom Roby earned his private pilot's license early that summer in Virginia. He began to date Diane Hudgins, a Jefferson City native who was working at the Virginia airport.
As Tom Roby drove in August from Maryland to Texas to report to Randolph Air Force Base, he diverted to Jefferson City, where Hudgins had returned.
During dinner at the Hudgins' house on Friday, Aug. 25, Diane's brother, Michael, a recent Jefferson City High School graduate, commented that he had never flown on a plane. Roby and Hudgins decided to rent one at Jefferson City Memorial Airport after dinner.
Roby didn't have much more than the 40 hours' flying experience required to become a pilot, and the man in charge at the airport was hesitant to rent him the Cessna 150F. He told Roby he would first fly with him, then rent the aircraft to him if he thought Roby was competent.
After flying, they returned to the airport in the two-seat, single-propeller plane. The airport employee got out, Michael Hudgins got in, and the plane took off again. This time, the plane never returned.
The first newspaper account of the missing plane came in Monday's News and Tribune: "The parents of a missing Jefferson City boy made a plea this morning for everyone to keep searching for the lost plane in which he as a passenger," the first sentence read.
A day later, on Tuesday afternoon, the county sheriff and coroner were called to a rural area likely in Osage County, where a body had been found. Later, Roby's father went with them and confirmed that it was indeed his son Tom.
His body was taken to Whiteman Air Force Base en route back to Maryland.
That's where the investigation stalled, and the mystery begins. To this day, neither the airplane nor the remains of Michael Hudgins, have ever been found. Likewise, the cause of the wreck is unknown.
"If the pilot's body is recovered four days after (the wreck) and the plane and the passenger are never recovered, why do you stop looking?" Roby asked. "Well, I hopefully have the law enforcement experience and the tenacity to do exactly that."
For Randy Roby, his brother's death was a "dynamic life change." He lost his focus in school that fall of 1967, and ended up following in his brother's footsteps by joining the Air Force.
"I was proud of him and his accomplishments in the Air Force Academy and being selected as a fighter pilot candidate," he said. "When he died in that private plane accident, he dropped the baton and I picked up the baton in the Air Force."
Roby plans to travel to Jefferson City later this month, armed with a career's worth of investigative experience as well as new technology that wasn't available then.
"I was a fugitive detective for 35 years, where I took one small piece of information from one source and another from another source and assimilated it to the point I could find the person I was looking for," he said. "When I arrested a fugitive, I knew more about the fugitive than he knew about himself."
Roby believes the plane went down somewhere between the airport and the convergence of the Osage and Missouri rivers. The area borders Cole, Callaway and Osage counties.
The presumption is that the plane went down in water, since it was never found.
Roby will be joined on the mission with a good friend. They hope to view the area from the ground and from a helicopter. One piece of new technology they'll be using in the search is a ferrous metal detector, which can pinpoint small amounts of the magnet-attracting material. On a Cessna 150F, that is limited to wing struts, wheels, landing gear and much of the motor, Roby said.
"If I really hit the jackpot, I would find a bone fragment of the passenger and have it buried at Hawthorn Memorial (Gardens) in Jefferson City. Then, I've done everything I possibly can do. I can't change the events, can't change the results, but I can bring personal closure."
Either way, Roby plans to place flowers on Michael Hudgins' grave.
Hudgins'mother died of cancer not long after his death, and his father is 90 and unaware of Roby's plans. Roby tracked down his sister, Diane, who is married and lives in Kansas City. Roby said she is aware of his mission, but doesn't want to be closely involved. She told him: "When you get closure one way or another, let's talk."
For Roby, that's what it's all about. He's dubbed his mission "Operation Closure."
"Now that I'm retired and older, I'm certainly aware of my own personal mortality," Roby said.
"It's either now or never, and you can't have closure if you don't try."
CAN YOU HELP
Randy Roby is asking the public for help in his search for the plane that went missing in August 1967, claiming the lives of his brother, Tom, and passenger Michael Hudgins. If you have any information about the crash or wish to help Roby with his investigation when he arrives in Jefferson City on June 18, please contact him at [email protected].