For further information please contact: Sergeant Martin K. Elmore
(417) 469-3121, ext. 225
G-04091
April 07, 2009

EMPHASIS: Pilot Of Canadian Aircraft Taken Into Custody


On April 06, 2009, at approximately 08:45 p.m., a single-engine Cessna aircraft landed on or near Missouri Route FF, 6 miles west of Ellsinore, Missouri, in Carter County. The pilot, later identified as Adam Dylan Leon, 31, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada fled the scene on foot.

At approximately 09:20 p.m. officers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol located and arrested Leon at the Simmons Grocery and Hardware Store near Ellsinore, Missouri. He was taken into custody without incident, and transported to the Butler County Sheriff’s Department in Poplar Bluff, Missouri before being turned over to the custody of officials with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

The Cessna 172 had been reported missing from a Thunder Bay, Ontario flight school earlier in the afternoon and had been the subject of an international news story. F-16 military jets were scrambled from the Wisconsin National Guard and had escorted the private aircraft up to the time of landing.

The charge for which the above person was arrested is mere accusation and not evidence of guilt. Evidence in support of this charge must be presented before a court of competent jurisdiction whose duty it is to determine guilt or innocence.