George Nikita, Donald Myers, Randy Williams and Kirby Windsor also vanished the evening of Jan. 27, 1971. "I don't have closure," Wilder said. "I don't think any of the families have closure. Until we actually find the plane, we won't have closure." The evening of the crash was just before a nasty snowstorm. The real estate developers from Atlanta had wrapped up their time in Vermont scoping out a possible project in Burlington. Their private, twin-engine corporate jet vanished shortly after takeoff, with no known distress signal sent. "It's exceptionally unusual for Vermont," said Brian Lindner, a historian who studies aviation disasters.