Then came closure

Tooth found in Vietnam ends years of doubt for missing Md. man's family

The two men began corresponding. It did not take Felty long to discover the father's doubts about whether Jimmy was actually dead. It's something Felty had thought about a lot himself.

'Good news'

The call March 20 came out of nowhere.

"Mr. Caniford," said Art Navarro of the Air Force Mortuary Affairs office in Texas, "I have good news."

Jim Caniford knew Mortuary Affairs' duties included updating families on any progress in the MIA search. He also knew the military had planned to return once more to the crash site in Laos. But he had no idea that the latest dig had occurred.

Navarro told him investigators in late 2006 had discovered and subsequently identified remains of four more of the 14 crew members, using dental records and DNA from bone fragments.

Jimmy, he said, had been found.

Exhilarated, Caniford called Shelly, who called Diana. Caniford made sure to send Ken Felty an e-mail as well.

Shelly, now 54 and living in Boca Raton, Fla., with her husband, cried, but with relief. "I'm thrilled with the news, so grateful," she said later. "It's comforting. I know Jimmy has been at peace all this time." She now knew that her brother's end had been mercifully brief.

Diana, 58, got the call while walking her dog across her property north of Fort Myers. She made it to the garage before the sobs forced her to lean against a car. Her husband came running. She welcomed the discovery. Finally her aging father, now into his 80s, would know.

But at the same time, she felt a twinge of disappointment as though a light had gone out.

"You've lost something you've lived with for 36 years," she said. "It was the hope. You make it part of your life - I have a brother."

Felty received Caniford's e-mail while driving cross country. He read the message on his laptop and said aloud, "Finally, the nightmare is over."

But when he learned that Jimmy's remains consisted of a single tooth, he was not so sure. What did that prove? Maybe Jimmy Caniford had grabbed a parachute and bailed just before the missile hit, banging his head and knocking a tooth out. Of all 14 crew members, Jimmy would have been closest to the open hatch and had the best chance of making it. The Pentagon says two men on another AC-130 did safely parachute. Who's to say Jimmy didn't pull off the same escape?

No parachutes were seen by the F4 pilot when Spectre 13 went down, but Felty knew the sky would have been pitch black.