HARPERSVILLLE | Authorities searching for a former Merrillville resident and Indiana businessman who may have tried to fake his own death in a plane crash say that he apparently escaped on a red motorcycle -- and could be anywhere.

Harpersville, Ala. Police Chief David Latimer said there's no reason to believe 38-year-old Marcus Schrenker is still in Alabama.

MORE: Find more information about former Merrillville resident Marcus Schrenker who went missing Sunday after bailing out of an airplane.

Latimer said he doesn't believe that Schrenker is in the United States anymore. Investigators discovered that Schrenker stashed a red motorcycle at a storage unit, and now, the bike is gone and his clothes were left behind in a storage bin.

Schrenker is a 1989 graduate of Merrillville High School, where he was on the newspaper staff and swim team, and the son of former Merrillville schools Superintendent Robert Schrenker, former classmate Jeffrey Centanni said.

Schrenker was facing a marriage that was crumbling and a state investigation of his Indianapolis-based financial management companies, and authorities believe Schrenker disappeared into the woods southeast of Birmingham, Ala., after jumping from his single-engine Piper Malibu, which continued on auto pilot until it crashed in a swampy area near homes in the Florida panhandle.

The only sign of Schrenker came in an ominous e-mail he apparently sent to his neighbor, Tom Britt, that said the situation was a misunderstanding and added: "By the time you get this, I'll be gone."

U.S. Marshals spokesman Michael Richards in Birmingham said Tuesday that the agency was actively searching for Schrenker, although he declined to detail where agents are looking or how the search is being conducted.

Investigators in Florida said Schrenker faces a host of possible charges if it turns out he deliberately abandoned the plane.

"You just can't let an unmanned aircraft just maliciously fly into a residential area without facing any consequences," said Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office spokesman Scott Haines.

Authorities believe Schrenker last was seen Monday morning in Childersburg, Ala., just south of Birmingham.

A man with Schrenker's license told police in Childersburg, Ala. -- about 225 miles from where the plane crashed -- that he'd been in a canoe accident with friends. He was wet from the knees down.

The officers, unaware of the plane crash, took him to a hotel. He was gone by the time they returned. They learned he paid for his room in cash before putting on a black cap and running into the woods next to the hotel.

Schrenker lived a high-flying life as an experienced recreational pilot with the nerves to pull off aerial stunts and an investment manager.

He bought luxury automobiles, two airplanes and a $4 million house in an upscale neighborhood known as "Cocktail Cove," where affluent boaters often socialize with cocktails in hand.

But in the weeks before the crash, Schrenker's life was spiraling downward: He lost a $533,500 judgment against one of his companies when he skipped a court hearing. His wife filed for divorce, and investigators probing his businesses for possible securities violations searched his home and office.

The neighbor, Britt, said he received an e-mail Monday night from Schrenker claiming the crash was an accident and saying he wanted the companies under investigation to succeed. Britt believes the e-mail that alludes to suicide is real, but its authenticity hasn't been verified.

The U.S. Marshals declined to say if they believed the e-mail was authentic. Britt said authorities asked him not to make it public.

Britt quoted Schrenker as saying, "I embarrassed my family for the last time." He turned the e-mail over to authorities, fearing it was a suicide note.

In the e-mail, Britt is asked to set the record straight and Schrenker says he's stunned after reading coverage of the case on the Internet. According to the e-mail, the accident was caused when the window on the pilot side imploded, spraying him with glass and reducing cabin pressure.

"Hypoxia can cause people to make terrible decisions and I simply put on my parachute and survival gear and bailed out," the e-mail reads.

The crash investigation began Sunday night, after Schrenker -- en route from Anderson, Ind., to Destin, Fla. -- reported turbulence as he flew over Alabama. He said the windshield had imploded and he was bleeding profusely, according to the sheriff's office in Santa Rosa County, where the plane crashed.

After Schrenker stopped responding to air traffic controllers, military jets tried to intercept the plane. They noticed the door was open and the cockpit was dark and continued to follow it until it crashed in a bayou surrounded by homes.

And when investigators found the plane, its door was ajar and the wreckage showed no signs of blood or the blown windshield. The sheriff's office said Schrenker appeared to have intentionally abandoned his plane.

Bill and Debbie Timbie, whose house is less than 100 yards from where the plane crashed, were home Sunday night when they heard the jets flying overhead. Bill Timbie gave rescuers looking for the downed plane a ride through the swamp in his canoe.

"Now, after you think about it, it could have been real bad, it could have taken out two or three houses," he said Monday.

Authorities in Indiana have said little about the nature of the investigation into Schrenker's businesses -- Heritage Wealth Management Inc., Heritage Insurance Services Inc. and Icon Wealth Management -- which provide financial advice.

Jim Gavin, a spokesman for Indiana's secretary of state, said investigators are looking at possible securities violations, and officers who searched Schrenker's home Dec. 31 were looking for laptops, computers, notes, photos and other documents related to those companies.

Court records show his wife, Michelle, filed for divorce a day before the searches.

Gavin said the Indiana Securities Division obtained a temporary restraining order Monday freezing the personal assets of Marcus and Michelle Schrenker and the assets of the three companies.

On Friday, two days before the crash, a federal judge in Maryland issued a $533,500 judgment against Heritage Wealth Management Inc., and in favor of OM Financial Life Insurance Co. The OM lawsuit contended that Heritage Wealth Management should have returned more than $230,000 in commissions because there were problems with insurance or annuity plans Heritage sold.

Associated Press Writers Melissa Nelson, Sarah Larimer and Times Staff Writer Bowdeya Tweh contributed to this report.