1 Dead, 4 Hurt in Campaign Plane Crash

Lieutenant governor candidate Sue Wagner and state treasurer candidate Bob Seale were injured in a plane crash Monday on the eve of Nevada’s primary election. Seale’s wife was believed killed.

Churchill County Sheriff Bill Lawry said the Republican candidates, both of Reno, were among five people aboard a twin-engine Cessna 411 that crashed shortly after takeoff from the Fallon, Nev., municipal airport, about 60 miles east of here.

Sources said Seale’s wife, Judy, was killed in the crash. Lawry confirmed one death but withheld the victim’s name pending notification of family members.

The sheriff said two other occupants, Stephanie Tyler, a campaign aide to Wagner, and Brian Krolicki, Seale’s campaign manager, suffered less serious injuries and were taken to a Fallon hospital.

He said Wagner and Seale were taken to Washoe Medical Center in Reno. A hospital spokeswoman said the two were listed in serious condition but the exact nature of their injuries was not immediately known.

Wagner, 50, a veteran state senator, and Seale, 48, a certified public accountant, went to Fallon for a Labor Day parade and were en route to Carson City when the crash occurred. Both will appear on today’s primary election ballot.

A spokesman for Wagner said both were conscious when they arrived at the Reno hospital and neither had any broken bones. Wagner’s husband, Peter B. Wagner, was killed in a 1980 plane crash in Northern California.

Lawry said it appears the right engine lost power and the plane was trying to make it back to the Fallon airport when it crashed shortly after 12:30 p.m. in a grassy area about a mile from the air strip.

Lawry said Krolicki walked about two miles to a ranch house and notified authorities of the crash about 1:15 p.m.