Thanks, fred&edna, for posting the video above. That’s Melanie’s brother, Bradley, when he searched some sites they thought her remains might be. That was somewhere around 2012-13 or so. It’s where they thought, & still suspect she may be—it’s just inside a cave close to the river IIRC, in a type of well that was/is covered with a heavy metal or iron top.
Aircraft these guys used.... in reference to the DC-4, in the linked doc in fred&edna’s prior post, I found this:
I Among the alleged activities of I ‘he “Bradley Bryant group” was the jpurchase of an old government DCf4 airplane for transporting marijuana from South America. i
I’ll paraphrase the next doc log (easier for me!):
Jan 11, 1979, per a federal indictment, “the 10-ton cargo plane was flown to Lexington’s Blue Grass Field”, marijuana was unloaded there. Then, “The DC-4 was taken to Louisville’s Bowman Field and abandoned.”. “Federal prosecutors accused Thornton of flying the plane from South America to Kentucky.”
The book states how Thornton & his buddies had become involved with 2 brothers from South America who were big time in the drug biz. I remember it went on to state that those in The Company, mainly Thornton, were now (at that time) dealing with people he/they really should NOT be involved with—very dangerous.
Taking in all involved AND just how VAST it was... as it’s been said, IF anyone in The Company suspected OR actually knew Melanie was privy to any goings-on, let alone people they were involved with.... not good for her PERIOD. They were transporting drugs, all sorts of military weapons and in question were what authorities termed “vendetta deaths” directly related to events in which Thornton was involved.