Husband and Wife Who Recently Celebrated 50th Anniversary Die in Plane Crash After Wedding
Waukesha Alerts/Twitter Randy and Susie Reimer
A couple died on Tuesday morning when their plane crashed in a residential Wisconsin neighborhood, narrowly avoiding a nearby home.
The victims were identified by family as Randy Reimer, 74, and Susie Reimer, 70, FOX station WITI reported, citing family members.
The husband and wife, who celebrated their 50th anniversary in June, had been traveling for a wedding in Wisconsin and were on their way home when the crash occurred, according to the outlet.
The couple's son told ABC affiliate WISN that his father, who piloted the aircraft, had a passion for flying — and built the plane himself.
"He spent three and a half years building that," Matthew Reimer told the outlet. "It was his pride and joy."
"When they retired from living in Menomonee Falls and moved out to Albuquerque, first thing he did was move by the kids so he could build his own airplane," he added.
The Waukesha County Sheriff's Office was notified at 9:41 a.m. on Tuesday "that the FAA Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) at Milwaukee lost both radio and radar communication with an airplane," according to a news release.
Around the same time, the Waukesha County Communications Center "received phone calls from citizens in both the Village of Vernon and Village of Waukesha reporting a loud noise and possible debris in the area," officials said.
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After arriving on the scene, authorities located the airplane in a nearby wooded area. The two occupants aboard the aircraft were pronounced dead at the scene, officials said. No other injuries were reported.
The cause of the crash is currently unknown, and the incident is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board as well as the Federal Aviation Administration.
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One neighbor who was at home at the time of the crash recalled being startled by the sound of a "strange thump."
"I was having an ordinary morning, working on stories about space, and heard what I thought was a strange thump," David Eicher told NBC affiliate WTMJ. "I thought of a heavy truck slamming or even a truck crash, but there was no evidence of that."
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Eichner went on to note on Twitter that the plane came close to hitting a neighbor's home.
"Yesterday was an extraordinary and sad day here, with a plane crashing into our neighborhood across the street from our house," Eichner wrote. "Sadly, the two aboard are deceased, but it could have been far worse, the plane narrowly missing a neighbor's house."
