Coast Guard Suspends Search For Plane Carrying NYC Designer Jennifer Blumin, Kids In Bermuda Triangle

SOUTHOLD, NY — The Coast Guard has suspended the search for a missing airplane 15 miles east of Eleuthera, Bahamas, Thursday night that carried New York designer Jennifer Blumin, her two young sons and her partner and pilot, Nathan Ulrich.

The North Fork community has been praying for a miracle; Blumin and her little boys, 3 and 4, are loved in Southold, where she has a home with her former husband.

According to the Coast Guard, the search was suspended at 8:45 p.m.

"This was a swift and significant loss and its impact has reverberated through everyone that participated in the search," said Christopher Eddy, search and rescue mission coordinator. "Our hearts and prayers go out to all of the families involved."

Blumin, 40, from New York, Nathan Ulrich, 52, from Lee, New Hampshire, and Blumin's sons had been missing since Monday, the Coast Guard said.

Blumin also owns a home on Waterview Drive in Southold with her former husband James Ramsey.

Ramsey has posted a number of photos to his Facebook account of Blumin with their newborn, and of his two young boys.

“I lost what I loved more than anything,” Ramsey told the Daily News.

Friends turned to Facebook to offer Ramsey an outpouring of support. "James, my heart and soul are with you today. I'm praying for Jenn and the boys," one wrote.

Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater C-130 Hercules airplane crews, Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crews, an Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, C-130 Hercules airplane crew, Coast Guard Air Station Miami HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane crews and the Coast Guard Cutter Bernard C. Webber crew searched for more than 75 hours — covering more than 11,140 square miles, an area larger than the state of Massachusetts, the USCG said.

The U.S. Air Force, Customs and Border Patrol and the Royal Bahamas Defense Force also assisted with the search.

Throughout the day on Thursday, Coast Guard spokesmen said there had been no new developments after another long night and day of searching the waters of the Bermuda Triangle for the missing plane.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Eric Woodall said Thursday morning that the cutter Bernard C. Webber had searched through the night and was out again at sunrise Thursday, with an Ocean Century HC-144 plane also joining the desperate quest to find survivors.

On Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation, as well, the Coast Guard said.

At approximately 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, a Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew located a fuel sheen and a debris field 15 miles east of Eleuthera.

The helicopter crew was able to lower a rescue swimmer and retrieve some of the debris to transfer ashore for identification. Some airplane components recovered from the debris were confirmed to be from an MU-2B airplane, the same type of plane that went missing, the Coast Guard said.

The airplane departed Borinquen, Puerto Rico, at approximately 11 a.m. Monday en route to Titusville, Florida.

"We believe it to be the same plane," said Woodall. "We have confirmed that those are parts of the type of aircraft that is missing. We haven't found anything yet, though, that specifically identifies it as the missing plane."

The debris was found 20 miles from the plane's last known coordinates, he said.

The Coast Guard, he said, had searched through the debris to find a tag or number that could be used to make that positive identification.

Prayers on the North Fork

The North Fork community prayed for a miracle, remembering a woman who touched their lives.

"Jennifer is a loved and valued client of the Giving Room. She has a beautiful Pilates practice and a spirit that lights up the room when she enters. We are blessed by her presence and pray for the safe return of Jennifer and her children," said Paula DiDonato, owner of the Giving Room, a yoga studio in Southold. "I am really so sad. She truly is a larger-the-life type of person, who seemed to embrace living with great passion. I just can't believe she could be lost."

Former Greenport Village Mayor Dave Kapell, a Realtor, said he and his son Matthew sold Blumin her Southold property.

"We are crestfallen by the news," he said.

Kapell reflected on Blumin Tuesday night, saying she is "a really nice and beautiful woman and her boys are beautiful." He added that she's "a force of nature and hugely successful in her business. Her key criterion for choosing a North Fork property was whether there were razor clams to be had in front. When we brought her to Waterview Drive, she took off her shoes, rolled up her pants, waded into the mud, found razor clams in Goose Creek, and bought the property." He added, "It's hard to imagine that she could be gone."

A report by NBCNewYork.com noted that, according to data obtained using the plane's tail number, the aircraft is owned by a company called Ithaca Consulting Inc. located at the same Waterview Drive address in Southold.

All was quiet at the home this week.

Across the street, neighbor Laurie Staron was shocked to hear the news that the plane was missing. "It's horrible," she said. "Very sad."

Farther along the road, neighbor Dan O'Connell said he'd seen Blumin with her small boys on the street. "It's terrible," he said.

Another neighbor said Blumin and her boys used to stop by often to give her horse apples and carrots. "She's a really pretty woman with a contagious smile," she said. "I remember the first day we met; she was so nice."

The yard outside had often been filled with the boys' laughter, as they played happily. Now, she said, "It's too quiet."

Blumin is a famous event space designer whose firm Skylight Studios has featured clients such as Ralph Lauren, according to Heavy.com. She is known for transforming derelict old buildings into "dazzling event spaces," the New York Daily News reported.

She and Ramsey had lived in Tribeca with their boys, Phinaes and Theodore.

Ulrich, according to the Daily News report, is co-owner of Xootr, a company that manufactures kick scooters and folding bicycles, and also the technical director of Radon Sport LLC. And, according to the same Daily News post, he is the former husband of actress Rae Dawn Chong, who told the Daily News that if there was an accident, it was caused by equipment malfunction. "He's an excellent pilot," she told the publication.

Watch standers with the Coast Guard Seventh District Command Center received a report from Miami Air Traffic Control at 2:10 p.m. Monday of lost radar and radio contact from of an MU-2B airplane approximately 37 miles east of Eleuthera.

Lead Patch photo via Wikimedia Commons.