Four of the victims of last week’s deadly plane crash in Bangor have been positively identified.
The Maine medical examiner’s office in Augusta has confirmed the deaths of 46-year-old Tara Arnold of Texas, 47-year-old Jacob Hosmer of Texas, 34-year-old Shelby Kuyawa of Hawaii and 33-year-old Jorden Reidel of Texas, according to the Bangor Police Department.
Family and friends have previously said that attorney Arnold, sommelier Kuyawa and pilot Hosmer were aboard the plane. Event planner Shawna Collins and private chef Nick Mastrascusa also were on board the plane, according to those who knew them.
Reidel’s identity hasn’t been previously confirmed.
The medical examiner is working to positively identify the last two victims, police said Tuesday afternoon.
The passengers, who were on their way to France from Texas, worked for a luxury travel company, Beyond, founded by Arnold and her husband, Kurt, a co-founder of the Texas law firm Arnold & Itkin.
Neither Kurt Arnold nor the firm’s other founder, Jason Itkin, was aboard the plane, local media reported in Texas.
Details are still scant, but we know that the fixed-wing, multi-engine Bombardier Challenger 600 crashed about 7:45 p.m. on Jan. 25 shortly after takeoff, ended up upside down and then caught on fire.
An airport spokesperson disputed an earlier count from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration that listed seven dead from the crash and one survivor. All aboard are presumed dead.
The plane was registered to Houston-based KTKJ Challenger LLC, which is associated with the personal injury law firm Arnold & Itkin.
January’s fatal crash comes just months after the August crash of a single-engine Cessna A185F that left 74-year-old Italian aviator Luigi Accusani dead, making it the second fatal civilian aviation disaster in Bangor and the third ever in the Queen City. A Sept. 17, 1944, military plane crash left its two-man crew dead in Bangor.
Investigators with the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board arrived in the Queen City last Tuesday after a snowstorm delayed their arrival. The wreckage was cleared from the runway last week, and flights began resuming into and out of Bangor International Airport on Thursday.