The state Highway Patrol has appointed an independent panel of attorneys to investigate why the agency has missing travel records from 2005.

Reuben Young, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, said Wednesday that he and Gov. Beverly Perdue “are determined to do everything in our power to find the answers regarding the 2005 records.”

The records are missing from 2005. Easley is under federal investigation for his air travels while in office. The State Highway Patrol received subpoenas earlier this summer for documents relating to the former governor’s travel on private planes. The Highway Patrol later confirmed documents from 2005 are missing.

Perdue said it’s “unacceptable” that the records have not been recovered. An internal inquiry, followed by an internal affairs investigation, had determined that Capt. Alan Melvin had not intended to remove or destroy the records.

Melvin was head of former Gov. Mike Easley’s security detail. Federal authorities investigating Easley subpoenaed Melvin to testify before a grand jury in May.

The three attorneys:

· Willis Whichard, former NC Supreme Court justice and former law school dean at Campbell University

· Robert Morgan, former SBI Director, former NC Attorney General, and former US Senator

· Ralph Walker, former superior and court of appeals judge and former director of the Administrative Office of the Courts

The outcome of the outside investigation will be made public upon its completion.