'My family is gone.' Tragedy strikes Barbara and John Rumpel of Brevard as investigators look into plane crash
With four short words, Barbara Rumpel — whose family is prominent in Brevard social and political circles — took to social media to confirm the worst for friends and supporters.
"My family is gone," Rumpel posted Sunday to Facebook, just hours after news of a horrific plane crash and a mystery that involved an unresponsive aircraft and a supersonic military jet response that rattled residents along the Washington, D.C., corridor.
What we know. Scrambled F-16s, a sonic boom and plane crash mystery in Virginia
More: Photos from scene where plane owned by Florida company crashed after flying over D.C.
No-fly zones? Florida only has one restricted 'no-fly zone,' and it might not be where you expected
Rumpel, whose company Encore Motors of Melbourne owned the aircraft, confirmed in the post that her daughter and granddaughter — whose pictures were posted to her page — had died. As of late Monday morning, Rumpel's Facebook page was no longer active.
Her husband, John Rumpel, told the Washington Post on Sunday that a nanny had also been on the aircraft. No information was available on the fourth person onboard. He told FLORIDA TODAY that he had “talked to the FAA, the police and the NTSB” but he had no further comment.
On Monday, federal investigators were sorting through details of the crash of the twin-engine plane, which prompted F-16 fighter jets to be scrambled after it strayed over restricted air space in the nation's capital.
The four people onboard the Cessna Citation did not survive the crash, Virginia State Police said Monday. They were not immediately identified by authorities but were confirmed by family members to be related to John and Barbara Rumpel.
The FAA reported that the Cessna crashed into mountainous terrain of southwest Virginia near Montebello at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday. The aircraft took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tenn., and was bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York. The plane neared the New York airport, then looped back on a path that took it over restricted airspace in Washington.
What caused that loud nosie? Sonic boom videos from Washington, D.C., fighter jet heard in Maryland, Virginia, and posted on Twitter
NORAD, the agency that monitors air defense over the U.S., then sent two F-16 fighter jets to intercept the non-responsive plane. The jets, traveling at supersonic speeds that caused sonic booms to be heard by thousands of residents on the ground, intercepted the plane within 20 minutes. Several attempts to contact the pilot were met unanswered, NORAD officials reported. Flares were also deployed but the pilot did not respond.
The plane then plowed into the sparsely populated mountains of the George Washington National Park in Virginia. Fire Rescue crews from the nearby communities responded to the site.
The crash comes 29 years after John Rumpel's daughter died in a scuba-diving accident in 1994.
The Rumpels are well established in Brevard's business and political communities. Aside from Encore Motors, which lists its main business address at a commercial warehouse owned by the Rumpels in Melbourne, the couple have had investments in local real estate and property rental and management firms.
Barbara Rumpel also works as a board member with the National Rifle Association, whose members offered the pair comfort as word of their loss spread.
The couple own and operate Victoria Landing Waterfront Assisted Living and Memory Care, a high-end assisted living community along the Indian River near Eau Gallie. The facility was named after John Rumpel's daughter, who died in a 1994 scuba diving accident.
Barbara and John Rumpel have been active donors in national and state politics, and were boosters for Donald Trump's 2020 re-election campaign and Gov. Ron DeSantis' re-election as governor.
Tragedy for Florida family. Plane registered to a Melbourne business crashes after flying over Washington, D.C.
J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @JDGallop.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard, Florida family confirms loss in Virginia plane crash
