Posted on 03/05/2007 4:51:18 PM PST by KeyLargo
Father and Daughter Killed in Plane Crash in Lawrence County
March 5, 2007 05:14 PM
BEDFORD, Ind. - A single engine plane crashed into a house in Lawrence County about a mile from Grissom Memorial Airport in Bedford around 10:45 a.m. The pilot of the plane was 47-year-old Eric Johnson of Bedford and the passenger his 8-year-old daughter Emily; both were killed.
Johnson rented a Cessna 150M Monday morning and shortly after taking off the plane crashed into the home of Vivian Pace, Johnson's estranged wife's mother. No calls for help were made.
Pace was in the living room of the house when the crash occured in the bedroom. She was not injured.
Emily's mother reported her missing Monday morning.
Both Eric and Emily's bodies were removed from the plane wreckage Monday afternoon around 4:00.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate the crash, Indiana State Police are securing the scene until they arrive.
24-Hour News 8 will continue to follow this story as it develops, with the latest report on WNDY at 10:00 and WISH at 11:00.
If so, what a coward this sad man was though to take his daughter with him.
AVIATION PING
Good grief. You're right, that has to be intentional, the chances of a coincidence are just too small.
}:-)4
>what a coward this sad man was though to take his daughter with him.
Well said.
If you want to kill yourself, go for it, but to take the kid too. What a Sheet!
First he kidnaps his daughter and then loads her on a plane.
Just to kill her and himself for what?
Revenge?
Sick bastard.
Husband probably blamed the mother-in-law for the estrangement (along with the wife). Killing daughter was act of spite/revenge against both. Killing mother-in-law would leave wife to grieve alone.
Frankly, I'm surprised the wife is still alive. Usually not the way these familial/custody dispute murders go down.
All that said, I agree it was a cowardly act to kill his daughter. Probably intensely possessive "man" who couldn't bear to leave his "blood" behind.
How does it appear that it's intentional?
As I said, "If so..."
The state police, however, believe that the crash WAS intentional.
When you see the pictures of the plane in the house, it looks as if he taxied into the house. The plane entered at 'street level'. No apparent roof damage. It is hard to picture how it got there without intent.
Certainly looks that way.
The odds against hitting that specific house are...a bit wild. It was certainly intentional.
Well, there you go. The daughter doesn't make sense. Must've really hated that mother in law.
This is so unbelievably tragic.
I heard on my local news that someone stated that the man was very possessive. Killing the daughter (and trying for the mother-in-law) to get back at his estranged wife. She probably left because he was too controlling.
Prayers are up for this family.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1796109/posts
Update at above thread!
How tragic. prayers for the family.
Dad: 'You're not going to get her'
(http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/285611,CST-NWS-plane07.article)
March 7, 2007
BY TOM DAVIES
BEDFORD, Ind. -- ''I've got her, and you're not going to get her.''
Beth Johnson heard those words from her ex-husband Monday, shortly before he crashed his rented single-engine plane into his former mother-in-law's southern Indiana home, killing himself and the couple's 8-year-old daughter.
The mother-in-law, Vivian Pace, described the cell phone call Tuesday as investigators tried to determine why student pilot Eric Johnson strapped his daughter into the plane's passenger seat and apparently crashed the plane deliberately into the one-story house.
Pace said she has no doubt that the crash was intentional because Johnson had been harassing his ex-wife for months, including buying a house three doors down from hers.
Took girl to Cancun
''That was the only way he could hurt Beth,'' she said. ''That was the only way he could get to her.''
In the cell phone call, Pace said, her daughter could hear the child in the background saying, 'Mommy, come get me, come get me.'''
Police were treating the crash as a suicide and homicide. State Police Sgt. Dave Bursten said investigators had yet to find any notes indicating Johnson's intentions, but the fact that the house was his ex-wife's mother's home raised serious questions.
''All of those things together lead us in the direction that this was done intentionally,'' Bursten said.
Eric Johnson, a property manager for the state Department of Natural Resources, had recently taken the girl to Cancun for vacation.
Emily ''was to spend the weekend with dad, and dad was supposed to bring her to school Monday morning,'' Bedford Police Maj. Dennis Parsley said.
Johnson obtained his pilot's license in November, the same month the couple divorced after 12 years.
Dad: 'You're not going to get her'
(http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/285611,CST-NWS-plane07.article)
March 7, 2007
BY TOM DAVIES
BEDFORD, Ind. -- ''I've got her, and you're not going to get her.''
Beth Johnson heard those words from her ex-husband Monday, shortly before he crashed his rented single-engine plane into his former mother-in-law's southern Indiana home, killing himself and the couple's 8-year-old daughter.
The mother-in-law, Vivian Pace, described the cell phone call Tuesday as investigators tried to determine why student pilot Eric Johnson strapped his daughter into the plane's passenger seat and apparently crashed the plane deliberately into the one-story house.
Pace said she has no doubt that the crash was intentional because Johnson had been harassing his ex-wife for months, including buying a house three doors down from hers.
Took girl to Cancun
''That was the only way he could hurt Beth,'' she said. ''That was the only way he could get to her.''
In the cell phone call, Pace said, her daughter could hear the child in the background saying, 'Mommy, come get me, come get me.'''
Police were treating the crash as a suicide and homicide. State Police Sgt. Dave Bursten said investigators had yet to find any notes indicating Johnson's intentions, but the fact that the house was his ex-wife's mother's home raised serious questions.
''All of those things together lead us in the direction that this was done intentionally,'' Bursten said.
Eric Johnson, a property manager for the state Department of Natural Resources, had recently taken the girl to Cancun for vacation.
Emily ''was to spend the weekend with dad, and dad was supposed to bring her to school Monday morning,'' Bedford Police Maj. Dennis Parsley said.
Johnson obtained his pilot's license in November, the same month the couple divorced after 12 years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.