Evadnie Smith, identified by FOX3 News, has been named as the fourth victim of the tragic private plane crash that claimed the lives of Adina Azarian, 49, and her two-year-old daughter Aria. .
Affectionately known as ‘Nanny V’, Smith perished in the incident on Sunday.
Smith, originally from Jamaica, served as a live-in nanny at Adina’s residence in East Hampton, New York.
Adina’s friends fondly remembered Smith, calling her “a remarkable woman with a beautiful soul”, highlighting her deep connection to Adina and her daughter.
The crash happened in a remote area of southwestern Virginia, involving a twin-engine Cessna Citation owned by wealthy businessman John Rumpel, who is also a major Trump donor.
On Sunday afternoon, a sonic boom sounded around Washington, DC, as military jets chased an unresponsive private plane that violated restricted airspace and then crashed, resulting in the loss of all four people in edge.
The thunderous boom occurred when two F-16 fighter jets were quickly dispatched from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to intercept the aircraft, which failed to respond to radio communications shortly after 3 p.m., as reported reported the Department of Defense.
Residents residing in the capital and nearby communities were initially puzzled until further details emerged.
The deployment of the F-16s was triggered when the private Cessna entered restricted airspace over the capital before finally crashing in southwest Virginia. Upon arriving at the scene, the fighter jets observed that the pilot of the aircraft appeared to be unconscious.
After several hours, rescue teams managed to reach the remote location of the plane crash in rural Shenandoah Valley, but unfortunately no survivors were found, police reported. .
The plane had taken off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tenn., with its intended destination at Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
However, it veered off its original course, executing a nearly 180-degree turn and redirecting its flight path toward Virginia, as recorded by flight tracking website Flight Aware.
The reasons for the aircraft’s lack of response and subsequent crash remain unclear. The plane experienced a steep descent, plummeting at speeds in excess of 30,000 feet per minute before finally crashing.
Obviously, the Cessna appeared to be operating on autopilot.
The owner of the company the plane was registered with has revealed his daughter, 2-year-old granddaughter, their nanny and the pilot were on board the ill-fated plane, en route to their residence in East Hampton .
John Rumpel, of Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc., said those on the plane had visited him in North Carolina and were on their way back to New York.
Although lacking in substantial detail, he speculated that the aircraft might have suffered a loss of pressurization.
As a 75-year-old pilot himself, he expressed his sincere hope that his family members would not endure any suffering in the wreckage, his voice wavering. Rumpel further explained that if the plane had indeed lost pressurization, “they would all just have fallen asleep peacefully and never regained consciousness,” as the publication reports.
John Rumpel’s wife Barbara Weimer Rumpel shared heartbreaking feelings on Facebook, posting photos of their daughter and granddaughter. In her message, she wrote: “My family is no more, my daughter and my granddaughter.”
Barbara Rumpel is known for her gun rights advocacy and has been an active member of the NRA’s Women’s Leadership Council since 2002. Her LinkedIn profile also reveals her role as a member of the council’s executive committee since 2012.
The Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency in Washington earlier said the sonic boom sounded throughout the National Capital Region, but reassured the public that there was no currently has no imminent threat.
Additionally, officials stressed that the Cessna plane was not shot down by a military aircraft. The accident is currently under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).