'Gut Wrenching': 4 Killed In Venice Small Plane Crash, Officials Say

Updated: 2:47, p.m., Thursday

VENICE, FL — Two couples visiting from Indiana were killed after their small plane went down in the Gulf of Mexico about a half-mile from the Venice Fishing Pier Wednesday night, authorities said.

The plane went down around 9:30 p.m. after taking off from the Venice Municipal Airport, Venice police said. The crash was called in by witnesses on the pier.

The four victims were identified by the Venice Police Department during a Thursday afternoon news conference.

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The bodies of William Lumpkin, 64, and Ricky Beaver, 60, were recovered from the waters Wednesday night.

Two additional bodies, likely their wives, Patricia Lumpkin, 68, and Elizabeth Beaver, 57, were found with wreckage from the plane on Thursday, police said. The aircraft was found in 23 feet of water.

William Lumpkin was identified as the pilot.

The couples left a St. Petersburg airport for Venice in a Piper PA-32R single-engine plane Wednesday around 5 p.m.

They met friends for dinner at Sharky's on the Pier and flew out of the Venice airport around 9:35 p.m., police said. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff.

While a debris field from the crash was located Wednesday night, dive teams weren't able to search the waters until daylight on Thursday, according to the police department.

Mark Cervasio, the airport director, described receiving the call about the crash as "gut wrenching."

"What else can we say?" he said.

It's the second fatal crash that originated from the airport in recent months.

In early December, a St. Petersburg family — pilot, Christian Kath, 42, and his wife, Misty Kath, 43, and their daughter, Lily, 12 — was killed when their rented Piper Cherokee crashed into the Gulf after they got dinner in Venice.

While the National Transportation Safety Board is the lead investigator on the crash, Venice police and other agencies are assisting.