Coroner, ex-mayor reportedly among victims in Illinois plane crash
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Three people and a dog were killed Tuesday afternoon in the crash of a small airplane in Illinois.
While officials did not release the names of the victims, multiple sources with knowledge of the crash identified two of victims as Frank and Cinda Edwards of Springfield. Frank Edwards was a former Springfield mayor, fire chief and alderman. His wife, Cinda Edwards, was Sangamon County coroner. The identity of the third victim was not immediately confirmed.
Public safety officials confirmed that the plane, a twin-engine Piper Aerostar, went down shortly after 3 p.m. in a field in unincorporated Sangamon County between Springfield and Rochester. The plane was heading inbound toward Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration was at the crash site Tuesday evening along with the coroner’s office. The National Transportation Safety Board also was expected to arrive within the next 12-18 hours to investigate.
Frank Edwards, 69, served on the Springfield Fire Department for 25 years before he retired in 2002, having served his final 19 months as chief. He was alderman on the Springfield City Council from 2003 to 2015 – except for the few months he served as mayor after the December 2010 death of Mayor Tim Davlin. He also ran for mayor last spring, losing a bid to unseat Mayor Jim Langfelder.
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Cinda Edwards, 63, was a nurse and Lincoln Land Community College trustee when she was appointed county coroner in 2011. She had been a nurse with administrative responsibilities at Priority Care Clinics. She had earlier spent eight years in working in the emergency room at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield.
The plane crashed within 75 feet of a residence, said Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, at a news conference Tuesday evening.
Rochester police and fire departments were first to respond, Campbel said. The Sangamon County Rescue Squad, Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport Police and the Springfield Police Department also assisted.
Campbell said that the FAA air traffic control tower reported to sheriff’s deputies that the pilot communicated that he was having problems with “weather and instruments.” The NTSB will conduct a full crash investigation, Campbell said.
According to flight logs tracked by global aviation company FlightAware, the plane took off from Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport in Florida around 9:33 a.m. Tuesday morning, arriving at Huntsville International Airport in Alabama around 12:18 p.m. The plane then took off at 1:02 p.m.
The plane is owned by LKJ Properties, a limited liability corporation based in Springfield.
Residents in the area said they heard “a loud boom” as the plane crashed.
“I was sitting in my chair in the living room. I heard the explosion and thought it was an unusual sound,” said Ward 1 Alderman Chuck Redpath, who lives near the scene. “I ran over to the crash site and the plane was already engulfed when I got there. ... The flames were so high, about 30 feet that no one was getting close. It was a scene you don’t want to see.”
Christin Goldsberry also heard the crash.
“I was in my house when I heard a loud boom,” Goldsberry said. “I didn’t think anything of it because the Southfork Gun Club is right back there. Roughly 10 minutes after the first boom, I heard another and then I saw a black smoke rolling out from behind the two houses behind me.”
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield ex-mayor reportedly among victims in Illinois plane crash
