Local News

3 Dead In Kaufman County Plane Crash

Community Mourns Family

KAUFMAN (CBS) ― Three people are dead after the small plane they were in crashed just before 4:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon in Kaufman County.

The crash happened just south of the City of Kaufman near Woodruff Lane. The plane had taken off from a nearby private airstrip and went down minutes later.

The crash also started a small grass fire that burned several acres.

Friends who witnessed the crash say the victims were members of the same family. The three were leaving a monthly aviation meeting when their plane went down.

The plane has been identified as a Piper PA 22 light aircraft that was built in 1959. The victims were identified Sunday as John and Cindy and J.W. Newman. John and Cindy, ages 50 and 48, are the parents of J.W., 19.

"I don't know how I'm going to live the rest of my life without my daughter, but I guess I'll have to," said Jeanenne Brown, Cindy's 70-year-old mother. "I gotta take care of her daughter now."

Had 17-year-old Katie Newman not been visiting a friend in St. Louis, she too would've died in the crash.

"I said, 'Oh Katie, what are we gonna do?' She said, 'Grandma, we're going to make it,'" said Brown.

Family members say the Newmans were very close. Both parents helped with the Nolan Catholic High School Band when J.W. played baritone sax.

J.W. would have been a sophomore engineering student at the University of Texas at Arlington. John was an engineer at Lockheed. He was also a licensed pilot and plane mechanic. Cindy Newman taught kindergarten at St. Andrews School Catholic School.

The FAA is investigating the crash. The initial reason given for the crash was wind trouble.

"Katie said, 'I can't believe it was the wind because he's flown in and out of worse storms, and that wasn't even a storm," said Brown.

The family's funeral service will take place at St. Andrews Church.

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