Memorial event planned for 25th anniversary of FBI plane crash into downtown Montgomery
City of Montgomery seeks individuals who were involved with the plane crash
The City of Montgomery would like to respectfully invite individuals who were involved with the crash to the memorial ceremony. Possible examples of individual involvement may be those who were in the downtown area at the time of the crash or those who assisted in the rescue efforts. Anyone who was involved with the crash in some way and would like an invitation to the memorial ceremony should contact Susan Hamm at (513) 891-2424.
Detailed Story of the FBI Plane Crash
Clearly one of the worst disasters to take place in the City of Montgomery was a tragic airplane crash on December 16, 1982. It took the lives of six as a twin engine Cessna 411 careened over downtown Montgomery, exploding as it crashed into the Sheppard Bookstore at Main and Cooper roads that morning.
The plane, bound for Lunken Airport from the Chicago area, carried four FBI agents from Chicago, an accused embezzler who was leading the agents to a reported stash of $641,000 in embezzled money in the Cincinnati area, a retired Chicago policeman and the pilot. Although all occupants of the plane were killed, miraculously no one was killed in the Sheppard Bookstore or surrounding buildings.
Mrs. Olga Sheppard, owner-operator of the store, and a customer got out of the building through a side door. J. Kannard Sheppard made his way to a window and porch roof on the second floor and was rescued by Rob Penny, a Montgomery fireman. A bookkeeper for the Sheppards escaped through a back door. Gloria Albrecht, who operated a shop in the basement of the building, was also able to get out. Phyllis Neyer was rescued by fireman Frank Lerner from her burning station wagon parked in the bookstore lot. She suffered severe burns and a broken leg.
Neighboring fire and life safety departments responded quickly, and as a result, damage was confined to the bookstore building. The plane crashed less than one block from several gas stations and three blocks from Montgomery School where children were in attendance.
Witnesses in the downtown Montgomery area that day heard the loud roar of engines, and then saw the plane come out of an overcast sky at a steep angle shortly after 10 a.m. The plane, traveling more than 200 knots, came out of the clouds, said observers. It flew low over Sycamore Junior High and was so low when it came to downtown Montgomery that it snapped power lines on Shelly Lane where a witness, seated in a teller window (North Cincinnati Savings and Loan in 1994), saw parts of the plane fall in the parking lot. She stated that it appeared as though the plane was going to come through her window.
The plane was in an almost vertical position as it crossed Montgomery Road, barely missing trees and buildings as it flew over Barton's Bakery parking lot, dropped one propeller onto the roof of a wallpaper store on Main Street, snapped a Main Street utility pole, then careened into a parked pickup truck in front of the bookstore. Overturning the pickup, the plane then skidded over the ground and into the foundation of the bookstore, spilling fuel over Phyllis Neyer's parked station wagon in which she sat. Some witnesses reported an orange fireball. Members of the Montgomery Fire Department were on hand in a matter of seconds as were employees of the Montgomery post office who felt the jolt of the crash in their building.
All six of the plane's occupants were killed, including pilots and FBI agents Terry Hereford, Wheaton, Illinois; and Robert Conners, Naperville, Illinois. Passengers also killed included FBI agents Mike Lynch and Charles Ellington; Carl Johnson, a suspect in a 1975 Chicago bank embezzlement of $641,000, and Patrick Daly, a retired Chicago police detective accompanying Johnson. Supposedly, Johnson was going to show the FBI agents where a stash of money was hidden in the Cincinnati area.
The destroyed building was a historic structure. It was long occupied by Dr. Jed Blackerby who moved into the house in 1906. The house was said to have been built before Terwilliger laid out the plan for Montgomery, which would date the original structure from the early 1800s. The house was constructed of solid oak, and an old barn once stood east of it and reportedly was where the circus was held when it came to Montgomery in 1812. The hand-cut timbers in the frame of the house were eight inches thick by ten feet long.
The cause of the crash was never revealed.