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An American pilot on a covert anti-Castro mission for the CIA vanishes in Latin America.
CASE DETAILS On September 23 rd , 1963, in Waterbury, Connecticut, 28-year-old Geoffrey Sullivan, a former Air Force pilot, prepared to depart on a secret mission. Sherry Sullivan is his daughter:
 Why did he fly over the airstrip and not land? Four days later, Geoffrey disappeared somewhere over the Caribbean. Sherry was only seven years old when she lost her father. Years later, she became a private investigator. She said that one of her toughest cases has been uncovering the truth about her father’s disappearance:
Geoffrey had earned his Air Force wings in 1957. After receiving an honorable discharge in 1959, he became a freelance commercial pilot. At about that time, Fidel Castro’s revolution swept through Cuba. The communist threat was now only 90 miles from American shores.  Both the plane and Sullivan disappeared Once Castro took power, the United States government and several Cuban exile groups launched campaigns to overthrow his regime. It was the shadowy world of these covert operations that may have cost Geoffrey his life. In 1961, a suspected CIA operative named Alex Rorke hired Geoffrey as a pilot for secret missions against Cuba. Their covert actions ranged from distributing anti-Castro leaflets to dropping homemade bombs. At the Bay of Pigs that same year, US-backed Cuban exiles failed in their attempt to invade the island and overthrow Castro. Eighteen months later, Soviet missiles were discovered in Cuba. For seven days, the world was on the brink of nuclear war. According to author William Turner:
 No trace of Rorke or Sullivan was ever found The U.S. government issued a public warning aimed to stop men like Alexander Rorke and Geoffrey Sullivan in their operations against Cuba. Eight days after the warning was issued, Geoffrey left Connecticut. The next day, he was seen in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with Alex Rorke. There, Geoffrey and Rorke met with two men. One of them was Frank Sturgis, who would become well-known for his role in the Watergate scandal years later. Sturgis, who had also been named in the public warning, described their meeting:
 Documents provided by the FBI were censored Sturgis convinced Rorke to meet with Nicaraguan officials and clear the way. The four men rented an airplane and planned to leave for Nicaragua the following day. That morning, Rorke’s wife drove him to Opa-Locka Airport in Fort Lauderdale. On the way, they picked up another man. According to Geoffrey’s daughter, Sherry:
The twin-engine plane took off from Ft. Lauderdale with Geoffrey, Rorke, and the mysterious stranger. Sturgis and his associate stayed behind. Geoffrey’s activities over the next 48 hours still cannot be fully explained. According to the FAA investigation, his flight activities were highly unusual. He returned to Ft. Lauderdale three times. For some reason, on his third trip to the airport, the plane’s landing gear remained up. After the control tower warned him not to land, Geoffrey did not attempt to return to Ft. Lauderdale again. Geoffrey finally landed at North Perry Airport, a mere thirty miles away from Ft. Lauderdale. But he took a suspiciously long time getting there. What should have been a twenty-minute flight had taken nearly five hours. No one knows where the plane was during that time. After refueling, Geoffrey and his passengers took off again around 1:30 P.M. The flight plan listed Tegucigalpa, Honduras, as their final destination. A little more than two hours later, Sullivan radioed the Tower at Miami International Airport. This time, he filed a new flight plan, with Tucuman, Panama, as his destination. Search party member Howard described the unusual radio calls:
Seven more hours passed with no contact from the plane. Finally, at 10:22 P.M., Sullivan again radioed the Miami Tower. This time, he filed a flight plan for Belize, British Honduras. The FAA says that Sullivan refueled just after midnight in Cozumel, Mexico. This was the last sighting of the plane. Geoffrey and his companions were assumed lost at sea. Despite a massive search, no trace of the plane or its passengers was ever found. More than two decades later, Sherry Sullivan and her attorney petitioned the government for information concerning her father. They have received over 5,000 pages of documentation from fourteen federal agencies, including the FBI and the CIA. More than a third of the 800 pages received from the FBI were censored. According to Sherry, information found in these documents indicates that at least 400 more pages exist, but were withheld for National Security reasons. For Sherry, it was the confirmation she was looking for. In the FBI documents, Sherry found the name Floyde Park. When she finally reached him by phone, Park told Sherry that he had seen her father two days after he supposedly disappeared. But Sherry explained that she had a hard time getting any further information from him:
Sherry only talked to Park once and has not been able to reach him since. But Park did say that her father and Rorke might have been taken prisoner in Cuba. According to Sherry:
In 1986, during her investigation, Sherry spoke with journalist Marty Casey. Marty said that he was in Cuba two years after her father disappeared:
According to Marty, he asked the man if he was talking about the pilot:
Another name Sherry found in the FBI documents was Enrique Molina Garcia. Garcia was supposedly a double agent for Castro’s government. Sherry believes Garcia was the mysterious third man on the plane and that he tricked her father and Rorke into flying to Cuba. Unconfirmed reports have placed Garcia in Havana years after Sherry’s father disappeared. Today, Sherry believes that her father was most likely jailed in Cuba and either died there or was executed. On the 40th anniversary of Geoffrey Sullivan’s disappearance, a commemorative grave marker was unveiled in the Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery in Augusta, Maine. The Veterans Administration is the first and only government agency to officially recognize Geoffrey as “missing in action.” Sherry Sullivan has not given up hope that she will some day discover her father’s fate. Watch this case now on Amazon Prime in season three with Robert Stack and in season six with Dennis Farina. Also available on YouTube with Dennis Farina. Various seasons available now on Hulu. SUBMIT A TIP |
Abel Gregarious
It looks like Cuba might be liberated soon; the US, in my opinion, will assist the island nation with discarding the awful nature of communism.
When it goes, I’m hopeful the family and America will be able to obtain closure on this hero — along with others that have gone missing in the country fighting oppression.
lydia s martin
Hello Miss Sherry Sullivan. I might have some info concerning your father situation. Not sure it will mean anything.
Unsolved Mysteries
Hello Lydia! You can also submit your information as a tip here at unsolved.com/tips.
John Posey
Howdy Lydia! I’m wondering what information you have? I’m a small-time historian and journalist planning on a project to do with Cold War history.
johnposeygordon@gmail.com
Anonymous
Stumbled on this article. Not sure where the information is from but it’s interesting nonetheless.
“Firstly, in 1965 he hired a Cuban, Rafael Anselmo Rodríguez Molina, to put dynamite on a plane bound for Cuba to carry out some of the activities we have mentioned here, and the U.S. pilot Alex Rourke died. The plane sets off for Cuba, makes a stop in Cozumel; Bosch or Frank Sturgis or Frank Fiorini, another Cuban-born terrorist get off there, the planes takes off and explodes in mid air.”
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/documentos/2002/ing/m230502i.html
Bill johnson
Still looking under rocks
Bill johnson
Still running around look under rocks
labrador
Hi Sherrey.
Did you ever visit Belize?
Tiffany
Hi Sherry my name is Tiffany my uncle Greg knew you some in Portland and would like to know how you are doing…if you don’t mind my email is Tifferscy@outlook.com
Greg
Did Geoffrey Sullivan really think he and a few other men could overthrow Castro? It’s absurd how he got himself mixed up with all that.
A daddy’s girl myself
Sherry, has there been any updates?
Bill
Where is Bill Johnson in this story????
elizabeth chapman
sherry I was your grandmothers niece by marriage. Aunt Mary told me this story on many occasions. She would stand at her front door and say I know he will return to me before I die. what a precious lady.
elizabeth
war.elizabeth47@yahoo.com
belle
Something is wrong with the accuracy of this story. Opa Locka Airport is not in Fort Lauderdale. It’s in Opa Locka. So, how could Rorke’s wife drive him to Opa-locka Airport in Fort Lauderdale? And since they cannot take off from two different airport locations, did the plane leave and land in Opa Locka or Fort Lauderdale? Opa Locka and Fort Lauderdale aren’t even in the same county; one in Dade, the other in Broward.
Anonymous
Sherry, you may want to consider asking the Pope to intervene.
He was just there and it’s time for the truth to come out.
Thanks.
Anonymous
Sherry, I’m hoping you’ve discovered enough to at least put your own mind to rest. Obviously the solution to this involves much higher revelations – I wish Peace for you.
GN
Sherry Sullivan
Thank you so much. I just now learned of this site! Sherry
NICKY
HAVE YOU EVER LOOKED INTO THE OPERATIONS OF ALPHA 66 IN CUBA?
Sherry
I have, thank you. Always open to more suggestions!
Bill Blaski
Sherry please let us know if you have made any head way regarding your father. We are with you!