Fiance Killed In What Man Says Was Elopement Gone Wrong

The Canadian man who disappeared for 24 years after his small plane crashed in a Montana lake, killing his fiance, pleaded no contest Thursday to a charge of felony negligent homicide.

Jaroslaw "Jerry" Ambrozuk will be sentenced March 8 for his role in the death of Dianne Babcock, according to the Associated Press. Babcock was 18 when she apparently drowned in Little Bitteroot Lake following the August 22, 1982 crash.

The sad and bizarre series of events began when Ambrozuk, then 19, hatched a plan to elope with Babcock. Phone calls to a friend indicated Ambrozuk planned to ditch the rented Cessna 150 in the Montana lake, after which he and Babcock would swim free of the wreckage and disappear to start new lives in the US.

That was the plan... but that's not what happened. When the plane hit the water, its nosewheel hit the water and caused the plane to flip. Ambrozuk was able to escape, but he says Babcock was unable to unbuckle her seat belt before the plane sank.

The teen did not report Babcock's death to authorities, instead calling a friend to ask him to call the police. And then he disappeared... for nearly a quarter-century.

As Aero-News reported, Ambrozuk was arrested last August in the Dallas, TX suburb of Plano. He told the court he went to New York after the crash, changed his name, and eventually started a software development company.

Among those in the courtroom Thursday was one of the original investigators in the case, Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont. He told the Kalispell (MT) Daily Inter Lake newspaper despite Ambrozuk's Shakespearean tale of love gone awry, he still wonders if that's the whole story.

"It still bothers me that he had an opportunity, not only after the crash, but for the next 24 years" to come forward, Dupont said. "If it happened the way he said it did, then why didn't he come forward?"

Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan told the AP his office agreed to drop other felony charges against Ambrozuk in exchange for the plea. The man faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the negligent homicide charge... but that's not all.

Ambrozuk also faces a federal indictment for illegally living in the US all this time.

FMI: Read The NTSB Report On The Accident