Tragic Takeoff

It was the morning of November 28, 2004. Susan, Dick, and their sons, Charlie and Teddy, boarded a private jet in California. The plane landed at a small Colorado airport, where they dropped off Susan. The rest of the family would be heading east.

Moments after takeoff, the plane carrying Dick, Charlie and Teddy came crashing down. Dick says their plane hit the ground at more than 100 miles an hour and then slid to a stop at the edge of a 60-foot cliff.

Charlie sprung into action as soon as the jet stopped moving. He spotted a tuft of his father's white hair sticking out from beneath a pile of rubble, dug him out and pulled him to safety. Charlie also tried to find his little brother, but before he could, the plane exploded.

Two days later, rescue crews found Teddy's body beneath the plane. Teddy and the two crew members who were also killed had been thrown from the plane on impact.

Dick remembers Teddy's last words very clearly. "He said, 'Dad, I'm scared,'" Dick says. "He didn't say it in a way that he was petrified—he just wanted to pass it on to me to solve it."