David Earl Whitehurst, 40, vanished after taking off from Vandenberg Airport in Tampa on April 17, 1992. He had leased a single-engine Piper PA 28-181 and had earned his pilot’s license only the month before. Whitehurst did not file a flight plan, his silver Dodge Stealth was left at the airport with his wallet and keys inside, and weather that night was described as challenging for an inexperienced pilot.

Search efforts by the Civil Air Patrol did not begin until April 21, and extensive searches have turned up no trace of Whitehurst or the plane. He ran a debt collection company called Continental Recovery Systems and was reportedly under business strain: a planned merger was canceled, he had legal disputes with former employees, and there were reports he had been threatened and felt followed in the weeks before he disappeared. Investigators have not found concrete evidence to explain what happened.

Does anyone have information about Whitehurst’s activities or contacts in Tampa around April 1992 that might help clarify his disappearance?