Astronaut's Ring Mystery Surfaces

by John Kelly, FLORIDA TODAY

Date: 06 June 2007 Time: 04:12 PM ET

CAPE CANAVERAL – Did someone steal a ring off the finger of one of the dead Columbia astronauts?

There is no conclusive evidence one way or the other, according to long-secret documents detailing a quest by the Texas Rangers, the FBI and NASA to get to the bottom of a claim by a funeral home worker who helped in the disaster recovery in 2003.

The man told police a ring disappeared from the body of astronaut Laurel Clark in the chaotic hours after Columbia broke apart trying to return to the Earth and the spaceship's wreckage rained down across a large swath of rural Texas and Louisiana.

Kept quiet for four years now, some details about the case are trickling out in documents related to the ongoing investigation into whether NASA Inspector General Robert W. Cobb has diligently done his job as an agency watchdog.

The questions about the missing ring have become part of an intensifying political battle in Washington between NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and influential members of Congress who want Cobb fired. The ring will come up in Cobb's testimony before Congress on Thursday.

The Texas Rangers' official investigation report and other documents reviewed by FLORIDA TODAY detail how authorities in Texas and Washington tried for weeks but failed to ever find evidence of crime – or a ring. NASA's photographic experts determined Clark was not wearing a ring when she donned her gloves moments before the shuttle began its ill-fated re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003.

"It became clear that there was no ring on the finger of the astronaut and, therefore, there was no credible evidence of a theft," Cobb wrote in written testimony to Congress in preparation for the hearing Thursday. "Public suggestion that persons involved in the recovery effort were involved in such a heinous crime would have been most inappropriate."

One recovery worker told police he saw a ring that later vanished. Investigators disagreed about whether photos taken during the recovery showed a ring. Dozens of other witnesses were questioned and nobody else reported actually seeing a ring, though several had heard of it.

NASA experts concluded "all pictorial data was consistent and indicated no evidence that a ring was present."

Cobb suggested the case be closed, and the other law enforcement agencies involved complied. The Rangers had been preparing to release a Crime Stoppers report to the media but did not at Cobb's request.

A subsequent investigation into Cobb's work questioned whether that decision and others were made based on the facts of the case or the inspector general's desire to protect NASA and his friend, former administrator Sean O'Keefe.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Orlando, and other leaders in Congress say NASA cannot afford a less-than-aggressive effort by the inspector general to identify and expose problems and wrongdoing. They have asked President Bush to fire Cobb.

Congressional complaints prompted an investigation by the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, a group whose duties include independent reviews of the work done by federal agencies' inspectors general.

That investigation found Cobb berated and cursed at employees and did not report or release information about wrongdoing that might embarrass NASA or O'Keefe. The investigators looked into allegations Cobb tipped off O'Keefe and top agency lawyers during probes.

Investigators took issue with Cobb not reporting the alleged theft or loss of national security data from NASA. They also faulted Cobb for stopping the release of the Crime Stoppers report in the ring case.

While the council found Cobb broke no rules or laws and could not prove an actual conflict of interest, investigators said Cobb's behavior in some cases fueled an appearance of a conflict of interest because he had grown too close to O'Keefe.