Sept. 10 (UPI) — Authorities in Vermont on Monday announced they found the crash site of a small plane that went missing a day prior and recovered four bodies from the aircraft. There were no survivors.
Vermont State Police identified the victims in a statement as Paul Pelletier, 55, of Columbia, Conn.; Frank Rodriquez, 88, of Lebanon, Conn.; and Susan Van Ness, 51, and Delilah Van Ness, 15, of Middletown, Conn.
Middletown Public Schools said Pelletier had been an aerospace and manufacturing teacher at Middletown High School where Delilah Van Ness had attended as a sophomore. Susan Van Ness was identified as Delilah Van Ness’ mother.
“This unimaginable loss has left a void in our hearts and our community,” Dr. Alberto Vázquez Matos, superintendent of Middletown Public Schools, said in a statement. “Paul, Delilah and Susan were special individuals whose absence is already being felt throughout our district and city.”
The plane, identified as a single-engine Piper aircraft, was located after midnight in a wooded area east of Basin Harbor Airport where they had departed shortly after noon Sunday.
Cellphone location data was used to determine the plane’s last known location as near the Vermont airport’s airstrip and a drone flown by Middlebury police located the wreckage at about 12:20 a.m. Monday, Vermont State Police said.
According to a preliminary investigation, the plane with its four occupants had departed from Windham Airport in Connecticut at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday for Basin Harbor Airport in Ferrisburgh where it had landed about two hours later.
After the four people onboard had brunch at a local restaurant, they left at about noon and were to fly back to Connecticut with an eyewitness reporting to authorities that their plane was seen on the runway at Basin Harbor Airport at about 12:15 p.m. local time Sunday.
No reports of an aircraft in destress nor that a plane had crashed were made, and the plane’s disappearance only became known to authorities after relatives of those onboard reported that the aircraft failed to arrive in Connecticut as expected, prompting the search.
The National Transpiration Board said it was investigating the crash of the Piper Pa-28R-180.
Middletown High School is to be closed Tuesday in response to the crash, with all athletic competitions scheduled for that day to be postponed and rescheduled.
“As the community grieves, Middletown Public Schools calls for unity and mutual support,” the school district said. “The district aims to honor the memory of Paul, Delilah and Susan by upholding their legacies of compassion, dedication and kindness.”