Steve Fossett was one of the most famous American adventurers, born in 1944 in Jackson, Tennessee. Being a businessman, Fossett could afford to fund his daring activities, which included aviation and sailing, among others. He was a member of the Royal Geographical Society and also of the Explorers Club.

With such a panel of hobbies, there’s no wonder that Fossett has over 116 records. 60 of them were still valid in June 2007, and they include “The First Person to Circumnavigate the Earth NonStop”. In fact, Fossett circumnavigated the Earth five times, in a balloon, a ship and a plane.

On September 3rd, 2007, Steve Fossett was flying over the Nevada Desert in a small, single-engine Bellanca plane. The CAP initiated a rescue mission, joined by dozens of volunteers. One month later, CAP called off the search, yet fans didn’t give up and continued to search for the adventurer, privately funded and organized. In 2008, Steve Fossett was declared legally dead after his wife requested it.

His plane was stumbled upon last month when a random hiker came across Steve Fossett’s wallet. Not recognizing the full name at first, he was surprised by the large amount of cash in the wallet. After taking the wallet to the police, a new search was initiated, which prompted the locating of the plane. No human remains, however, were discovered.

Recently, though, the search party found bone fragments in the Sierra Nevada. They were immediately sent to a forensics laboratory in California, where a test revealed it matched Fossett’s DNA. Finding the fragments was a difficult task, as more than 17,000 square miles were searched for almost a month, by an assembly of hundreds of people and planes.

The fragments identified as being Fossett’s were found half a mile away from the crash site. The adventurer’s wife was relieved upon hearing about the DNA match, and is hopeful that the rumors circulating regarding Fossett faking his death will finally be over.