Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Sergeant Vernon Corbell who was assigned to the AERO Bureau and Polygraph Technician Raymond Willis was an observer when they were killed in a plane crash. Sergeant Corbell was piloting a small airplane in search of a downed plane near Malibu. Sergeant Corbell experienced engine trouble and attempted to land. The airplane scraped a hog back ridge at the edge of Puerco Canyon and burst into flames, starting a small brush fire. The plane crashed 500 feet short of the emergency landing strip. Local ranchers rushed to the site but were kept back by the intense heat. The bodies of Corbell and Willis were later recovered by firefighters.