Dyan Marie Jenkins

• Missing Since 09/01/1981
• Missing From Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• Classification Lost/Injured Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Age 26 years old
• Height and Weight 5'4 - 5'8, 115 - 125 pounds
• Associated Vehicle(s) Single-engine 1976 Piper Lance plane
• Distinguishing Characteristics White female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Jenkins may use the last name Caywood.

Details of Disappearance

Jenkins was last seen in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on September 1, 1981. She had a private pilot's license and was rated to fly both single- and multi-engine planes. She flew out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in a single-engine 1976 Piper Lance plane, reportedly on the way to Grand Caicos Island to pick up a shipment of lobsters.

She broadcasted a mayday call, which was picked up by an Eastern Airlines pilot at his home in Gainsville, Georgia. Over the radio, Jenkins indicated she was running out of fuel and had only about five minutes' worth of it left. She said she was over deep water and had seen several ships. She was calm but very frightened.

The Eastern Airlines pilot talked to Jenkins for about 25 minutes; she had more fuel than she had originally thought. He tried to give her advice on how to ditch a plane at sea. The last transmission from Jenkins were the words, "It's quitting." This is the last time anyone heard from her.

Four days later, searchers found the yellow life raft from Jenkins's plane; it was identified by its serial number. It was adrift about a mile off Great Inagua Island in the southeastern Bahamas. This is about sixty miles from Grand Caicos Island. There was no sign of Jenkins or her plane. She is presumed lost at sea.

Nevada County, California police are investigating Jenkins's disappearance.