Safety questions keep frontage road closed

Plans to reopen the U.S. 183 frontage road near the site of last week's plane crash have been delayed indefinitely, a Texas Department of Transportation official said Sunday, amid concerns about the structural integrity of the four-story office building struck by the single-engine plane.

Meanwhile, investigators continued to sift through the rubble Sunday, searching for clues as well as human remains.

Forensic evidence has not confirmed the identity of the pilot, thought to be Andrew Joseph Stack III, the author of an anti-government rant published on the Internet.

On Saturday, officials identified the remains of Vernon Hunter, 68, the only person inside the building killed in the crash.

FBI agent Eric Vasys said federal investigators worked through the weekend searching for evidence that could shed light on the Thursday morning crash.

Vasys said investigators would be wrapping up their search soon. It will be up to the city, he said, to determine the safety and structural integrity of the Echelon I building, which houses Internal Revenue Service offices, Stack's apparent target.

Even after investigators clear the site, TxDOT will not open the road until the building is determined to be structurally sound, said John Hurt, spokesman for the agency's Austin district.

Officials at the St. Edward's University Professional Education Center said classes and other activities at Echelon III, in the same complex as Echelon I, will resume today.

St. Edward's holds classes for graduate students and employees of various companies in Echelon III.

The crash site was cordoned off by police tape Sunday, and officers were posted around the perimeter. Across the highway, people gathered in the parking lot of the Gateway shopping center to take pictures of the building. Cars near the site slowed as drivers took a look at the wreckage.

As investigative work continues, questions linger about Stack, whom friends and neighbors described as a quiet man not prone to railing against the government in his everyday life.

Stack's daughter from his first marriage, Samantha Dawn Bell, told an Associated Press reporter that the Web manifesto didn't sound like the father she knew.

"It's not him. The letter itself sounds like it's coming from a different person," she said from her home in Norway.

Stack also lashed out at his Austin accountant, Bill Ross, in the anti-IRS screed.

"Mr. Stack contacted my firm to help with his personal taxes in 2008. He failed to provide me with all his income and other information resulting in an IRS audit," Ross said in a statement. Ross has not returned calls placed to his home and office.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Stack ignored the audit and my advice which only complicated his situation, at which time our firm disengaged our services with Mr. Stack whom we have not been in contact with since October 2009," the statement said.

Chad Wilbanks, a spokesman for Ross, said Sunday that the accountant is doing well, despite having been named in Stack's note.

"On the whole, he's just fine," Wilbanks said.

pgeorge@statesman.com; 512-392-8750

Additional material from staff writers Ben Wear and Ralph Haurwitz.