Missing pilot Schrenker involved in Dothan lawsuit

Just more than a month before an Indiana man is believed to have ditched his plane in an elaborate attempt to fake his own death, he wrote a letter to a Dothan man and his attorney, stating he had “lost all hope.”

Marcus Schrenker, 38, was being sued for fraud in Houston County by Dothan resident Barnett “Bo” Hudson, who claimed Schrenker lied about the condition of a plane Hudson bought from Schrenker in 2002. Court documents indicate Schrenker had failed to respond to numerous attempts to schedule a deposition in the case. But on Dec. 3, Schrenker faxed a letter to Hudson and Dothan attorney William Nichols, claiming he was “financially insolvent” and intended to file bankruptcy this year.

“It needs to be known that I am personally financially insolvent,” Schrenker wrote. “I am intending on filing bankruptcy in 2009 should my financial conditions continue to deteriorate.”

Schrenker owned a money management firm known as Heritage Wealth Services as well as at least two aviation-related companies. He indicated in the letter that all were in financial trouble.

“I have personally lost all hope,” Schrenker wrote. “I don’t think there is a good person left in this world.”

Schrenker is currently on the run from police after he is believed to have parachuted out of a plane he was piloting Sunday night, about the same time he sent out a distress call claiming his windshield had shattered and he was bleeding profusely. The plane crashed near Milton, Fla., Sunday night, but was found unoccupied. Schrenker was spotted more than 200 miles away in Harpersville, Ala., checking into a hotel after he claimed he had been in a canoeing accident.

Authorities now believe Schrenker was trying to fake his own death.

According to the lawsuit filed in Houston County, Schrenker advertised a plane for sale and said it had never been damaged. However, Hudson later learned the plane had suffered a “hard landing” in 2001 and had extensive damage. The suit also alleges Schrenker collected almost $100,000 on an insurance claim from the hard landing, but made no repairs to the plane other than “cosmetic” ones.

The suit was filed in January 2008. A hearing in the case is scheduled in front of Circuit Judge Lawson Little on Feb. 2 this year.

A call to Hudson’s residence in Dothan was not immediately returned.