Authorities in southwest Colorado have identified the four people — all of them from California — high in a remote mountain area.
The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office says pilot Harold Joseph Raggio and Steven Dale Wilkinson, both of Newberry Springs, Calif., were killed in the crash.
Rosalinda Leslie, of Hesperian, Calif., and Michael Lyle Riley, of Barstow, Calif., were also killed.
“The crash site is in rugged alpine terrain at an elevation of approximately 11,500 feet, inaccessible from road or trail,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. “…The debris indicated a high speed impact.”
Authorities say an investigation into the crash is being led by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Raggio’s daughter told The Denver Post on Tuesday that her 71-year-old father who flew jets in two Vietnam tours and survived a helicopter crash after being shot out of the sky.
Authorities say the plane, a twin-engine Cessna 310, was headed from Barstow, Calif., to San Antonio, Texas.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul
