None of the four luggage bins in the hold showed signs of a bomb. The FBI said later the bag contained no explosive traces and was not significant. At least 20 credible witnesses said they saw an object ascending toward the plane the night of the crash. And radar records showed a tiny unexplained blip just before Flight 800 disappeared. Within days, however, officials said the blip was not from a missile.
Officials say sophisticated spy technology detected no missile launch in the area.
And they say that so far, no such evidence in the recovered wreckage has been found. There are shoulder-fired missiles that might have reached the plane at 13,000 feet, especially if they were fired from a boat. Investigators interviewed people who were on the water that night but came away without answers. Former White House press secretary Pierre Salinger breathed new life into the theory last month when he said he had obtained a document confirming the plane was downed by an American missile. The FBI said, however, that Salinger's information had been posted on the Internet for weeks and contained no merit.