4 dead after small plane crashes in Gulf soon after taking off from Florida airport

Robyn Murrell
·2 min read

Four people died in a small plane crash near the Venice Fishing Pier in Sarasota County on Wednesday evening, Venice Police Department officials said during a news conference Thursday.

The plane plunged into the Gulf of Mexico about a half-mile from the pier around 9:30 p.m., according to police.

During the news conference in Venice on Thursday afternoon, police Capt. Andy Leisenring revealed the identities of the four people killed in the plane crash.

William Jeffery Lumpkin, 64, of Fishers, Indiana, flew the plane. His wife, Patricia Ann Lumpkin, 68, was a passenger, as were Ricky Joe Beaver, 60, and his wife, Elizabeth Beaver, 57, both of Noblesville, Indiana.

After emergency crews arrived at the crash site on Wednesday evening, they found the bodies of William and Ricky near a debris field a half mile west of the airport.

Dive teams were deployed after daylight Thursday, and they found the two women and the main portion of the aircraft, a single-engine Piper PA-32R, around 11:56 a.m.

The wreckage was discovered at a depth of 23 feet in the Gulf of Mexico.

“We’ve been in contact with the victim’s families, so they have been notified,” Leisenring said. “And certainly our hearts go out to them as they deal with his tragedy.”

Leisenring also provided a timeline of events leading up to the plane’s crash.

The plane left from an airport in St. Petersburg on Wednesday night and arrived at the Venice Municipal Airport around 5 p.m.

The couples then dined with friends at Sharky’s On the Pier in Venice before departing at 9:35 p.m.

“The plane crashed soon after take-off as they were returning to safety,” Leisenring said.

Leisenring said that the National Transportation Safety Board would be handling the preliminary investigation of the crash and that they could answer further questions on the state of the pilot and aircraft.

This is the second plane crash near at Venice Municipal Airport in recent months.

WFLA News Channel 8 reported in December that a small plane went down in the Gulf seconds after taking off from Venice Airport, killing a family of three.

Leisenring said that crash was the first one he had experienced since starting at the Venice Police Department over a decade ago.

“I’ve been working here for 16 years, and the last crash was the first I’ve seen off the Gulf like that,” Leisenring said. “So to have two in that short period of time is certainly unusual.”

Sarasota Sheriff’s Office assisted in investigating a small plane crash that fell into the Gulf of Mexico, where the bodies of two men in their 50s or 60s were found near the Venice Fishing Pier in Sarasota County on April 6, 2023.
Sarasota Sheriff’s Office assisted in investigating a small plane crash that fell into the Gulf of Mexico, where the bodies of two men in their 50s or 60s were found near the Venice Fishing Pier in Sarasota County on April 6, 2023.
Sarasota Sheriff’s Office assisted in investigating a small plane crash that fell into the Gulf of Mexico, where the bodies of two men in their 50s or 60s were found near the Venice Fishing Pier in Sarasota County on April 6, 2023.
Sarasota Sheriff’s Office assisted in investigating a small plane crash that fell into the Gulf of Mexico, where the bodies of two men in their 50s or 60s were found near the Venice Fishing Pier in Sarasota County on April 6, 2023.