Oceanside
A couple and their infant daughter killed in a private plane crash in Oceanside last week have been identified by the county medical examiner’s office.
The victims were Richard Vander Heide, 40, his wife Nancy, 38, and 3-month-old daughter Willow, Deputy Coroner Robert Engel said Thursday. The family lived in Agoura Hills, near Los Angeles.
The three were killed when their single-engine Piper plane crashed and burned in an open area about three-quarters of a mile north of the Oceanside airport, Engel said. The plane was found in a ravine Nov. 1 by a hiker.
Engel said authorities are unsure when the plane crashed. He said a San Diego man with whom the family had dined Oct. 28 called when he heard news reports about the crash and tentatively identified the victims. But the examiner’s office delayed positive identification until medical records from a previous crash the husband and wife had been in were received.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident.
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