Police say a missing man who left a suicide note may have crashed his small plane into the ocean.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, on Tuesday they found a suicide note dated for September 23rd in Gene Milowicki’s car at a hangar in Herlong Airport.
His plane was gone.
An investigation determined that Milowicki had entered the Herlong East gate ramp on Sunday, September 23rd.
Police said a friend of Milowicki told them he believes he flew his plane into the ocean.
Charter boat Capt. Dan Lindley told WOKV he found a piece of a plane about 12 miles off the coast of St. Augustine.
“The wreckage that I found was part of a fuselage,” Lindley said. “So it’s a small gas tank. It was all broken apart and you can see the gas cap on it.”
Police said investigators are trying to determine if the parts match Milowicki's aircraft.
First Coast News reports the Federal Aviation Administration said a wing of a plane was found near Fernandina Beach. The U.S. Coast Guard is searching 32 miles from the entrance of the St. Johns River into the ocean.
According to public records WOKV obtained from the Duval Clerk of Courts, Milowicki and his wife divorced in August, the day after he violated an injunction for protection against domestic violence.
Milowicki spent 28 years in the U.S. Navy as a career naval officer. He was later the Director of Aviation at Florida State College at Jacksonville from November 2009 to September 14, 2012.
