Family of 3 Found Dead in Plane Crash After 4 Days
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An Agoura Hills couple and their 3-month-old daughter died in a single-engine plane crash in northern San Diego County that went undiscovered for four days, authorities said this week. Richard Vander Heide, 40, his wife, Nancy, 38, and their daughter, Willow, died Oct. 28 after their Piper Colt crashed in a canyon about a mile north of Oceanside Airport, San Diego County Deputy Coroner George Dickason said.
According to a flight plan filed by Vander Heide, he planned to fly from Oceanside Airport to Camarillo Airport, about an hour away in Ventura County. Federal Aviation Administration Inspector Larry Lehr said Vander Heide’s plane crashed and burst into flames shortly after taking off about 10:45 p.m. in heavy fog.
There were no witnesses to the crash and the burned wreckage went undiscovered until it was found by a man hunting rattlesnakes in the canyon.
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