NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Four people from Connecticut are dead after a small plane from Connecticut crashed in Vermont, according to Vermont State Police.
Vermont State Police identified the victims as 55-year-old Paul Pelletier of Columbia, 88-year-old Frank Rodriguez of Lebanon, 51-year-old Susan Van Ness of Middletown and her 15-year-old daughter, Delilah Van Ness.
Middletown police said Pelletier was the aviation technology teacher at Middletown High School and was taking flight lessons with Delilah, one of his students. The district plans to release a statement later Monday.
State police said their preliminary investigation determined that a four-seat, single-engine Piper PA-28R aircraft departed Windham Airport around 8:30 a.m. Sunday for a flight of about two hours to Basin Harbor Airport in Ferrisburgh, Vermont.
State police said the privately owned plane landed, and the occupants arrived to make brunch reservations at Basin Harbor. They left the restaurant shortly after noon and were scheduled to fly back to Connecticut. A witness reported seeing the plane on the runway around 12:15 p.m., according to state police.
Student arrested after making online threat to Meriden middle school State police said no reports were received indicating an aircraft was in distress or that a plane had crashed. However, when the plane failed to return to Connecticut as expected, relatives reported the situation to the Connecticut State Police and Middletown police.
Middletown police notified Vermont State Police of the situation around 10:20 p.m. Sunday. Connecticut State Police responded with members of the Middlebury Police Department and the City of Vergennes Fire Department.
Vermont State Police said those agencies worked with the Federal Aviation Administration and used cell phone location data to determine that the plane’s last known location was near the airstrip in Vermont.
With the help of a Middletown police drone, investigators were able to locate the wreckage of the aircraft around 12:20 a.m. Monday in a wooded area just to the east of Basin Harbor Airport. First responders confirmed that all four occupants were dead, according to state police.
The bodies of the victims were brought to the chief medical examiner’s office in Burlington, Vermont, to determine the cause and manner of death.
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