Robert Vernon Spears

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Robert Vernon Spears was a convicted criminal and naturopath who is alleged to have placed a bomb aboard National Airlines Flight 967, an aircraft which disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico on November 16, 1959, killing 42 persons.

Investigators learned that one William Taylor, an ex-con whom Spears had befriended in prison, had boarded Flight 967 using a ticket made out to "Dr. Spears". The theory arose that Spears, desperate because unlicensed naturopaths would soon be forbidden to practice in his home state of Texas, had tricked Taylor into boarding the aircraft with a piece of luggage containing a bomb; when the aircraft crashed, it would be assumed that Spears was on board and his wife (who had just given birth to twins) would be able to cash an insurance policy for $100,000 in Spears's name. However, Taylor himself purchased $37,500.00 worth of life insurance at the airport; when his ex-wife attempted to collect on the policy, authorities were notified and it was determined that Taylor had boarded the flight using a ticket issued to Spears.

Due to the accumulation of silt at the terminus of the Mississippi river delta where the plane is believed to have crashed, not a single identifiable piece of the aircraft was ever found.

Spears was eventually arrested at the Phoenix, Arizona airport after being turned in by another fellow cellmate who was also practicing as a naturopath in Arizona. The informer had cut a deal with prosecutors to have marijuana charges against him dropped; he also asked for a share of a reward that had been posted for the capture of Spears. Due to lack of evidence, however, Spears was never charged with any offence in relation to the Flight 967 crash.

Spears disappeared after his arrest. His death was reported in the New York Times a few years later.