San Miguel County sheriff’s officials and the coroner struggled Monday to confirm the identities of four Texans killed Friday when a small plane crashed into the summit of 14,017-foot Wilson Peak.
The impact scattered debris and remains over three sides and 2 square miles of the mountain just southwest of Telluride.
Coroner Bob Dempsey said he was trying to assemble enough circumstantial evidence, from a cellphone, camera and business cards, as well as conversations with devastated families, to determine the victims’ identities.
“This is the first time in 20 years I’ve had to do it this way to issue death certificates,” Dempsey said. “These are not positive IDs. They are circumstantial.”
The deceased are believed to be Mark Dennis Cochran, 27, of Dallas; Brendan Shawn Culbert, 25, of Bellaire, Texas; Kristin Kirkley, 26, of Dallas; and James Flanagin, 25, of Houston.
Authorities believe the plane’s occupants were friends en route to the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival. They had departed from Addison in the Dallas area, refueled in Taos and probably crashed into Wilson Peak around 10 or 10:30 a.m. Friday, Dempsey said.
Sheriff’s Cmdr. Eric Berg did not allow Search and Rescue Team members back up the mountain Monday because of unstable slope conditions.
“We’re not done with recovery yet. Our job is to get closure for these families,” Berg said Monday afternoon. “But I’ve closed the mission for now because I’ve got to make sure that all the team members make it home.”
Severe weather may have been a factor in the crash, Berg said, as thunderstorms occurred throughout the region. The National Transportation Safety Board has begun an investigation.
Berg said he learned of the missing flight Saturday and began organizing the search that night. Pilot Devon Felix of Olathe Spray Service Helicopter first spotted the wreckage at 7:20 a.m. Sunday.
A harrowing recovery mission, amid heavy rockfall, led to the recovery of Kirkley’s body and some remains of others. Kirkley’s body was entombed in snow and rock near larger pieces of the single-engine Debonair Beechcraft’s fuselage and tail section, Berg said.
Friends of two of the crash victims declined to comment Monday.
Staff writer Electa Draper can be reached at 970-385-0917 or edraper@denverpost.com.
