EXCLUSIVE: JFK Jr.'s Crash Mystery Solved as 26th Anniversary of Tragedy Approaches – How He Was Murdered in Sabotage Plot to Stop Him Becoming President

John F. Kennedy Jr.’s plane crash death was no accident. It was murder – to stop him from running for president and keep his father's assassin a secret.

As the 26th anniversary of the tragedy that rocked the nation approaches, RadarOnline.com can reveal new top-secret files that prove JFK Jr.'s plane was sabotaged by powerful Kennedy enemies to silence him forever.

The 38-year-old budding politico "had a mission," declared an investigative journalist. "And that mission was to expose the villain who orchestrated that 'dastardly act' (of assassination) upon his father. Unbeknownst to the public, (he) was digging deep for proof."

There was word that JFK Jr. had obtained the proof he was seeking, and an exposé was in the works.

"John Jr. was warned by family members about the risks involved in his pursuit. But he was determined to get justice for his father before he made his own run for the White House," added the source.

A family insider said: "In the spring of 1996, two years after his mother Jackie Kennedy's death, John was pushing hard to bring his father's assassins to justice.

"He was very, very close to exposing the truth."

So, his father's enemies – many of whom were still alive – put a contract on his head, sources said, with recently unearthed FBI documents detailing a plot to kidnap him.

"John narrowly avoided getting whacked then," revealed a government insider. "But three years later, he wasn't so lucky."

By 1999, JFK Jr. was running the successful magazine George. But he was also eyeing multiple elected positions – including the Oval Office seat once occupied by his father.

"I think once George was a success, he would think about running," RoseMarie Terenzio, his chief of staff at the publication, said in an interview. "He wanted great things for the country."

Now, in stunning new findings tied to the grim anniversary of his death, investigators believe someone monkeyed around behind the instrument panel of JFK Jr.'s plane, possibly causing an electrical short in the wiring that triggered it to go into a steep nosedive.

"That would account for the fact that John, an otherwise excellent flier, lost complete control," said a source.

John was piloting a Piper Saratoga he'd purchased three months earlier in New Jersey to go to a cousin's wedding at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, on July 16, 1999.

His wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, was on board with her sister Lauren Bessette. JFK Jr. planned to drop Bessette at Martha’s Vineyard and radioed the airport at 9:39 p.m., indicating his position, location, and trajectory. He appeared calm, according to Steven Lagudi, a radio operator at Long Island’s Republic Airport, who overheard the calls.

"The pilot was trying to contact anyone at Martha's Vineyard to let them know he was coming in. There was no unusual distress in the pilot’s voice, nothing to indicate that he would soon crash."

Moments later, radar operated by the Federal Aviation Administration showed John's plane went into a dive and dropped 1,200 feet in just 12 seconds.

The plane then disappeared from the screen at approximately 9:41 p.m. After that, a number of odd events occurred.

At 10:05 p.m., the air traffic controller at Martha's Vineyard Airport had a summer intern contact the FAA office in Bridgeport, Connecticut, about JFK Jr.'s failure to arrive.

But the intern was told no information could be released over the phone.

At 2:15 a.m. on July 17, the Kennedy family reported to the local Coast Guard Air Station that the plane had not arrived.

At 4 a.m., the U.S. Coast Guard began a search and rescue operation.

It wasn't until July 19 that fragments of Kennedy's plane were located using sonar. At 11:30 p.m. on July 20, a salvage ship identified the plane's shattered fuselage. Finally, on the afternoon of July 21, divers recovered all three bodies.

It's believed Sen. Ted Kennedy, JFK Jr.'s uncle, used his influence to rush their autopsies. They were cremated that same day, and their ashes were spread at sea on July 22.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, JFK Jr. ran into haze and became a victim of what pilots call "spatial disorientation" – being unable to determine where the horizon is and keep the plane level.