On Dec. 16, 2008, Indy Aero, which operates the Mount Comfort Airport, filed suit against Schrenker in Hancock Circuit Court for “slander of title, defamation, false informing, tortious interference with a business relationship;” the suit was re-docketed on Jan. 2.

Schrenker’s name is listed on a YouTube site featuring skydiving videos. On the site, Schrenker identified himself as 38 and an “Unlimited Aerobatic Pilot with 10,000 plus hours of experience.”

In December 2007, a Schrenker spoke in opposition to annexation of the Geist Reservoir area by the town of Fishers. A Marc Schrenker was also listed as a member of Holy Spirit Parish at Geist by The Catholic Movement Web site.

Paul Schrenker of Anderson, Schrenker’s cousin, said the two do not keep in touch and he knows little about him.

“He’s been living in Fishers for a little while,” said Paul Schrenker, the son of former Madison County judge Paul Schrenker. “I don’t really know much about him.”

Officers who searched Schrenker’s home Dec. 31 were looking for laptops, computers, notes, photos and other documents related to those companies. Court records show his wife, Michelle, filed for divorce a day before the searches.

Gavin said the Indiana Securities Division obtained a temporary restraining order Monday freezing the personal assets of Marcus Schrenker and Michelle Schrenker and the assets of the three companies.

On Friday, two days before the crash, a federal judge in Maryland issued a $533,500 judgment against Heritage Wealth Management Inc., and in favor of OM Financial Life Insurance Co. The OM lawsuit contended that Heritage Wealth Management should have returned more than $230,000 in commissions because there were problems with insurance or annuity plans Heritage had sold.

Smith described Schrenker as an “outstanding pilot.”

That description made Tom Britt, who edits a newsletter for the affluent Indianapolis suburb in which Schrenker lives, suspicious of the circumstances surrounding the crash when he heard about it from a local reporter. Britt knew about the securities investigation.

“I said, ’Do they have his body? Call the police and tell them to pull the teeth out of it, because if there’s a body in that plane, I guarantee that’s not Marc Schrenker,”’ Britt said.

Residents jokingly call the community where Schrenker lives, which overlooks a reservoir, “Cocktail Cove” because the boaters plying its waters often have a mixed drink in hand.

The serene setting belies what Britt described as a sometimes tense relationship between Schrenker and his neighbors. He said Schrenker has two sides — one very cordial and generous, the other threatening and litigious — and that many in the neighborhood had run-ins with him and “didn’t care too much for him.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.