The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 12, 1985, Image 11

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Thursday, September 12, 1985/The Battalion/Page 11
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Cocaine smuggler falls to his death
Parachutist crashes on driveway
Aggie Bonus Days
Associated Press
KNOXVILLE,Tenn. — A heavily
armed parachutist, wearing a bullet
proof vest and carrying $14 million
worth of cocaine, f ell to his death in
a residential driveway Wednesday
when his chute failed, police said.
“I got up to shave and looked out
my window and saw him,” said Ered
Myers, 85, who discovered the body
Wednesday morning. “It looks like
he jumped out with too heavy a
load.”
The victim was identified as An
drew Carter Thornton II, of Paris,
Ky. Police had no further informa
tion about the man, who carried 35
kilograms of cocaine in an Army
duffel bag, as well as two automatic
weapons, several knives and rope,
and was wearing night-vision gog-
gles.
Knox County Medical Examiner
Randall Pedigo said the parachutist
appeared to have been dead for
eight hours when the body was
found at 8:45 a.m.
“He had bags attached every
where,” said Ralph Johnson, 63, a
neighbor of Myers who notified au
thorities.
“There was a trickle of blood from
his nose that had dried on each
cheek,” Johnson said. “Other than
that he looked OK. He was lying on
his back with his knapsack half un
der him.”
Metro Narcotics Squad Lt. Jerry
Day said the man was “aiming for
this area and there was probably
someone supposed to meet him.”
Detective Charles Coleman said
the death appeared to be an acci
dent.
“He had several IDs on him, all
different,” Coleman said. “We’re
checking to see which one is his.”
The victim’s main parachute ap
parently failed to open and the re
serve chute had been deployed, Co
leman said.
Tony Acri, assistant special agent
in the Atlanta office of the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration,
said the mountain passes and clan
destine airstrips in Appalachia' pro
vide good cover for smugglers hop
ing to beat a DEA crackdown on
drug peddlers in Miami and other
ports.
Acri’s office, which oversees activ
ity in Tennessee, North Carolina,
South Carolina and Georgia, said co
caine is “smuggled into the (Appala
chian) area and picked up by Colom
bians and other groups, and
distributed from there. It’s a big
problem.”
He said the area’s access to inter
state highways appeals to smugglers
looking for quick getaway and distri
bution routes.
He said each kilogram of cocaine
is worth about $40,000 wholesale,
and 10 times that much on the
street.
“It was just a matter of time until
we had something like this,” Day
said.
The nearest airport is Downtown
Island Airport, about three-quarters
of a mile away, but a spokesman
there said he already told police no
planes landed overnight.
Parachuting expert Rick Snow of
Knoxville, asked by police to help in
the investigation, said the dead man
appeared to be an expert jumper be
cause the chute was of an expensive
make.
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