The Pentagon concluded in 2001 after a review that he was missing in action, and after additional inquiries the Pentagon said concluded that remained the case, even though the intelligence community said he was dead.

It has been disputed whether he was struck by a surface-to air-missile or a missile fired from an Iraqi warplane.

In 2002, as then-president George W Bush was building the case for invading Iraq, the Pentagon switched the pilot's status again, declaring, based on alleged sightings, he was captured and in the custody of Saddam's regime.

There was hope that the March 2003 US-led invasion would shed light on the case, but an on-the-ground investigation provided little information.

The captain's initials were found on a jail cell in the Iraqi city of Hakmiyah in April 2003, but they were later determined to be meaningless. The Pentagon declared the sighting was 'discredited', and switched his status back to missing-in-action.

In July, the Marines went to the crash site acting on information provided by an Iraqi citizen. The Iraqi stated he knew of two other Iraqis who recalled an American jet impacting the desert and the remains of the pilot being buried in the desert by Bedouin.