Tacoma pilot and owner of Mushroom House on Key Peninsula is missing

Rod Collen, a Tacoma man profiled last year as the creator of a mushroom-shaped home on the Key Peninsula, is missing after he flew his private airplane out of Tacoma Narrows Airport on Monday.

Collen’s daughter, Audrey Collen, and his fiance, Shannon Garrett, posted notification of his missing status on their Facebook pages.

According to Aviation Safety Network, Collen departed the airport shortly before 6 p.m. on a Cessna T182T Turbo Skylane. Flight Aware last tracked the plane over the Key Peninsula at 4,900 feet and flying at 116 miles per hour.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it alerted local public safety agencies about the missing plane on Monday. It bears the registration number N24289.

“Only the pilot was on board,” the FAA said in an emailed statement. “The aircraft departed Tacoma Narrows Airport in Gig Harbor, Washington, around 5:30 p.m. local time and has not been located.”

Collen’s family filed a missing person’s report, according to Tacoma Police spokesperson Wendy Haddow.

Washington Air Search and Rescue searched for the plane along with the U.S. Air Force, according to Haddow. Pierce County sheriff’s deputies also checked the Key Peninsula where the plane last transmitted its location.

It’s unknown if the transmitter was purposefully turned off or malfunctioned, Haddow said.

Mushroom House and Never Never Land

In August, the couple were featured in The News Tribune after they neared completion of a years-long home-building project.

Mushroom House, as the couple call it, is a toadstool-shaped home nestled in a forest near Penrose State Park.

Collen purchased several figures from the dismantled Never Never Land feature at Point Defiance Park and populated the woodlands around the home with Little Jack Horner, Three Men in a Tub and Miss Muffet.

The couple have opened the home to the public on several occasions.

Collen owns a digital music storage service.