Remains Thought to Be Crash Victim’s
Divers off the coast of northern San Diego County have recovered remains believed to be those of a teen-ager who died with his father in a plane crash Dec. 14, coroner’s officials said Thursday.
The remains are “more than likely” those of Tim Eksted Jr., a 17-year-old Newport Beach resident who was reportedly the only passenger with his father when the pair crashed in a private plane about three miles west of Camp Pendleton, said Chuck Kelley, an investigator with the San Diego County medical examiner’s office.
Coroner’s officials will need about a week to conduct tests to determine positive identity, Kelley said.
Officials have already determined that Tim Eksted Sr., 45, a charter boat operator and private pilot, died instantly in the crash. His body was recovered shortly after the crash. The Eksteds took off from McClellan-Palomar Airport, south of Oceanside, bound for John Wayne Airport, friends and officials said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an investigation to determine what caused the crash.
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