domingo, 11 de agosto de 2013

Heartbroken attend vigil for two girls killed by Connecticut plane crash - New York Daily News

The devastated mother of two girls killed when a small plane crashed into their Connecticut home bared her pain Saturday in a heartbreaking online message.

"I can't begin to imagine my life with you," Joan Mitchell posted on the Facebook page of her 13-year-old daughter, Sade Brantley.

"You and Madisyn were my world. My heart has been broken to the point of no repair...My life will never be the same without you and Madisyn."

Sadie and her 1-year-old sister Madisyn Mitchell were inside their East Haven home when a private plane piloted by an ex-Microsoft executive dropped from the sky and barreled into the house Friday morning.

The pilot, Bill Henningsgaard, and his 17-year-son Max were also killed in the crash.

The accident was Henningsgaard's second in four years.

Joan Mitchell, after escaping the wreckage and flames, stood outside the home screaming for help, witnesses said.

Then she raced back inside the Cape-Cod style house in a vain hunt for the missing girls.

On Saturday night, Mitchell made a quiet appearance at a vigil for her slain daughters.

The shattered mother, wearing a blue v-neck t-shirt, choked back sobs as she embraced received waves of anguished well-wishers.

"She's doing as well as can be expected," East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo said earlier.

A friend of Sade's described the rising 8th grader as a "shy and timid" girl who loved music.

"It was devastating to hear it was her," said Starriana Zmuda, a fellow student at Joseph Melillo Middle School in East Haven.

The pilot who died in a fiery plane wreck that killed his college-bound son and two kids on the ground was hailed Saturday as a philanthropist with a huge heart.

Ex-Microsoft executive Bill Henningsgaard "was a really amazing man," said a saddened Marlaena Chiarappa, who knew the victim for seven years. "Bill was very genuine. It's a really horrible thing."

RELATED: 4 TO 6 BELIEVED DEAD AFTER SMALL AIRCRAFT CRASH, PILOT IDENTIFIED

The Friday morning crash of the small plane into two East Haven, Conn., homes left devastated families on both coasts. Henningsgaard and son Max, 17, were visiting from Washington State.

And Connecticut mom Joan Mitchell — who escaped the wreckage and flames on Charter Oak Ave. — lost daughters Sadie Brantley, 13, and 1-year-old Madisyn Mitchell, officials said.

The mom stood outside the burning home screaming for help Friday morning, and went back inside the Cape Cod-style house in a vain hunt for the missing girls.

Mitchell, 39, was briefly hospitalized Friday, and she spent Saturday with friends and family members in another town, said East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo.

"She's doing as well as can be expected," he said.

The bodies of the four victims were pulled from the charred crash site about 12 hours after the fatal Friday morning wreck, officials said Saturday.

Authorities confirmed that the Henningsgaards were the only people aboard their 10-seat turbo-prop plane when it went down in the rain and wind.

The National Transportation Safety Board is on site to investigate the cause of the crash.

Witnesses said it sounded like the motor cut off before the plane went down, and the crash occurred after the pilot aborted his first landing try.

Investigators began removing the charred remains of the plane as crews began destroying the two adjoining homes. The plane's wings tore into both homes, with its fuselage landing in the basement of one house.

Chiarappa is an executive assistant at Thrive by Five, an educational non-profit that benefited from Henningsgaard's largesse. Word of his tragic death left many in the Seattle area despondent.

"My heart was broken," said Chiarappa. "It's very sad . . . Not everyone is so generous with their money. There's going to be a big hole in our area for a long time."

Henningsgaard is survived by wife Susan, along with daughters Eleanor and Lucy. He and Max were visiting colleges on the East Coast, and were flying into Connecticut from Teterboro, N.J.

The non-profit Social Ventures Partners, where he once served as chairman, issued a statement hailing his lasting impact.

"One of the true losses is how much more he had to give," the statement read, "but his legacy is one of authentic, caring commitment to this world." With Rich Schapiro

lmcshane@nydailynews.com

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