After 17 years, searchers have finally discovered the wreckage of a small plane that went down over Lake Huron in 2007, and the remains of one of its passengers, according to Michigan state police in a statement on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024.

The remains were later confirmed to be those of H. Brooke Stauffer, using dental records.

The August 2024 discovery offered closure to Stauffer’s family, who have waited 17 years with little news.

Stauffer and his fiancée, Karen Dodds, went missing after their Socata TB-20 Trinidad (a small, single-engine plane) reportedly went down over Lake Huron on Friday, Aug. 26, 2007. Stauffer, 56, was NECA’s executive director of standards and safety. He was also a prolific and highly regarded safety and standards columnist for ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR. Dodds, 52, owned her own graphic web design and marketing company.

Some debris from the plane was found along the shoreline of Bois Blanc Island a few days after the crash. Dodds’ remains were found two months later, east of the Mackinac Bridge. Despite a massive search that included the Michigan Wing of the U.S. Civil Air Patrol out of Gaylord, the U.S. Coast Guard out of Detroit, the Royal Canadian Coast Guard and divers, the plane and Stauffer were not found until recently.

Stauffer and Dodds had been vacationing on Mackinac Island. On Friday afternoon, they set out from the small airport there to Bad Axe, Mich., with Karen piloting the plane. They planned to visit her family in the area, and the flight should have taken about 2 hours. They never arrived. The cause of the crash remains unknown.

According to state police, a private company, Great Lakes Search & Recovery, resumed the search in October 2023 at the request of the family. The search team discovered the plane wreckage in August near Bois Blanc Island, 70 feet below the surface. The discovery was possible thanks to advanced sonar, new drift data from the area, and eyewitness testimony, in addition to information from previous search efforts.

Stauffer joined NECA’s national headquarters staff in June 1995. His duties included overseeing the development of NECA’s series of National Installation Standards and safety resources. He was chairman of the National Fire Protection Association’s Electrical Section, which has overall responsibility for the National Electrical Code, and was a principal on Code-Making Panel 1.

"I remember Brooke as being deeply passionate about codes and standards, as well as life in general. He was a motivating presence to staff, both professionally and personally. I have fond memories of him organizing after-work bike rides from Bethesda into DC," said Traci Walker, NECA's chief financial officer.

NECA remembers Stauffer fondly as an employee and his contributions to the electrical industry remain as part of his legacy.