Flying high in Cocktail Cove

It was the last week in December 2008. Financial adviser Marcus Schrenker was in Key West, Fla. with his girlfriend. Back in the Indianapolis area, in the neighborhood known as Cocktail Cove, Schrenker's wife Michelle was brooding about the future.

On Dec. 30, Michelle filed for divorce from Marcus.  Next day, New Year's Eve, here at the big house on the Cove, wound slowly, through a gloomy afternoon. Marcus gone, Michelle on her own with the children.  And then the youngest, a boy, called out.

A policeman was at the door.

Michelle Schrenker: And I said, "He wants to talk to me? What are you talking about?  Where's the policeman?  And he said, "Downstairs.  He asked for Daddy, but he wants to talk to you." And they started yelling, "Mrs. Schrenker, get down here right now.  Right now."

In fact, several investigators had arrived, and they had a search warrant.  They went through the huge house room by room.

Keith Morrison: Do you think he knew, when he left to go on the little vacation with his girlfriend, that he was about to get raided?

Michelle Schrenker: I don't know for sure, but I felt like it. 

In fact, whether Marcus Schrenker knew it or not, regulators had been following a trail through his financial papers for the previous eight days.  Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rikita:

Secretary of State Todd Rikita: This started December 23rd for us. And it's been going at breakneck speed. So in one week’s time, we were able to get enough evidence to convince a judge to issue a warrant to go seize that property.

According to investigators, Marcus had been selling investments without a license. And they were finding, they say, other significant evidence of wrongdoing.

Keith Morrison: How much money's involved?

Todd Rokita: We're talking about millions.  But we're not talking about tens of millions. 

Criminal charges had not yet been filed, but Marcus knew the law was closing in. His personal problems were, too. And then? It was as if time suddenly began to spin faster and faster. Marcus returned to Indiana the first week in January. He stayed with his girlfriend at this condominium complex. Michelle called him about the divorce.

Keith Morrison: What was his reaction?

Michelle Schrenker: I think it was a surprise. And said he didn't want it.  He didn't want a divorce. "Please don't do this." Which I found very ironic.

Then, on Jan. 4, Marcus' stepfather died. He attended the funeral, but around Geist Reservoir and Cocktail Cove, the talk was about business.

Tom Britt: I got a voicemail on my cell phone and it was Marc. And he said, “Tom, I'm calling because something's happened to the company.”

On Jan. 9, Marcus was hit with a half-million dollar judgment in a federal lawsuit brought by an insurance company. He'd been holding on to commissions that he should have returned to the insurer. And over recent weeks, Michelle couldn't help but notice that Marcus was growing increasingly agitated.

Michelle Schrenker: And I would ask him what he's stressed about, and he would just say, “There's always somebody yelling at me.” But he would never elaborate.

Then, on Jan. 10, Marcus drove to Alabama, using a trailer to drop off a red motorcycle. Then, quickly, back to Indianapolis, and then, on the evening of Sunday, Jan. 11, he filed a flight plan for Destin, Fla.

Michelle Schrenker: Yeah, he told me he was going to visit his dad. And I didn't think much of it.

That evening, airport security cameras caught Marcus' pickup truck doing donuts on the snow covered tarmac.    They brought his plane out, and in his high-powered, $1.9-million Piper Meridian. Florida was less than three hours away.  It was 6:45 eastern time when he took off. Destination: infamy.

Michelle was home with the kids. It was around 9:00.

Michelle Schrenker: I got a call from an air traffic controller, from Alabama. And they said they needed his cell phone number. And I said, “Why?” and they said, “We lost contact with him.” And I said, “Is everything OK?” And they said, “Yeah, we just lost contact with him, and we're just trying to get ahold of him. “

And then an hour passed, and then another.

Michelle Schrenker: And then, about 12:30 in the morning, the Air Force called me, and started asking me questions about who owned the plane. And then I knew something was really wrong.

Oh, something was wrong, all right, dreadfully so.

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