A thorough search of the ocean
surrounding Long Island was conducted and turned up no signs of plane wreckage.
Nassau county police obtained an order
from the U. S. Department of
Commerce, a week after the disappearance, to search every private, public and
abandoned hangar on Long Island, covering the 100 mile stretch between
Roosevelt Field, where he took off, to Montauk point, at the extreme tip of the
island - the first of its kind.
Whitfield took off with only ten gallons of gas and there
was a strong wind toward the sea at the time of the flight. It was
considered possible, but unlikely, that he was blown to sea.
After Andrew's disappearance was
discovered, an investigation discovered that, on the same day he vanished,
he had checked into a hotel in Garden City on Long Island under an alias he
occasionally employed: "Albert C. White." Hotel records indicated that
Whitfield/White had paid $4 in advance for the room and never checked out.
When the hotel room was searched, it was discovered that his personal
belongings, clothing, cuff links engraved with his initials, two life
insurance policies, and several stock and bond certificates made out in
Andrew's and Elizabeth's names, were all left behind in the hotel room.
Phone records also indicated that he
had called his home while his family was out looking for him, and a
telephone operator reported that she heard him say over the phone, "Well, I
am going to carry out my plan."
After this information was
uncovered, police theorized that Whitfield had committed suicide by
deliberately flying his plane into the Atlantic Ocean--although no evidence
to verify this theory has been found. At the time of Whitfield's
disappearance, there was no evidence that he was having personal or business
problems.
