Father speaks out in heartbreaking statement after student athlete is killed in plane crash with girlfriend's family
A grieving father has issued a heartbreaking statement after his son was killed in a plane crash with his girlfriend's family over the weekend.
On Saturday (April 12), shortly after 12.00pm ET, a private plane crash-landed in a field in Copake, close to the Massachusetts border in upstate New York, and killed all six of those on board.
Flight Aware data reveals the twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B was in the air for 30 minutes before the tragedy, after departing from the base at 11.34am.
Reports indicate the plane was owned by neuroscientist, Dr Michael Groff, and his wife, Dr Joy Saini, a urogynecologist, who were both on board when the plane plummeted.
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Their son Jared Groff, a 2022 graduate of Swarthmore College who worked as a paralegal, joined the pair as well as his partner Alexia Couyutas Duarte.
Alexia had graduated from Swarthmore and was planning on attending Harvard Law School this fall.
The couple's daughter, former MIT soccer player Karenna Groff, who was named the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year and who had created masks for essential workers in the Covid-19 pandemic, was also on board the jet with her boyfriend, James Santoro, another recent MIT graduate.
The family were reportedly taking a trip to the Catskills for a birthday celebration and the Passover holiday.
Now, James' heartbroken father has spoken out about the tragedy, saying all the families involved are 'suffering.'
John Santoro said: "Their suffering is over. Ours has just begun."
Speaking to Boston 25 News, he added: "Still couldn’t believe it was true. I still don’t believe it’s true."
He revealed his son, a math major from New Jersey who played lacrosse for MIT, met Karenna as a freshman while they studied at the university and were planning to get engaged this summer.
John continued: "Karenna was a fantastic person. And after you met her parents, it became pretty clear where she got it from."
He also told Associated Press that they were a 'wonderful family.'
"The world lost a lot of very good people who were going to do a lot of good for the world if they had the opportunity. We’re all personally devastated."
After graduating, the couple moved to Manhattan where Karenna enrolled in New York University's medical school while James worked as an investment associate for Silver Point.
Speaking about his son, John said the family enjoyed the 'best' 25 years 'of our lives' with him, saying the 'joy and love he brought us will be enough to last a lifetime.'
NTSB investigator Todd Inman confirmed at a news conference that the pilot of the plane missed an approach at the landing airport and requested instructions to make another approach.
However, the air traffic control radar 'indicated a low altitude alert' and despite the air traffic controller attempting to inform the pilot of this, they were 'unsuccessful' - despite radioing in an 'additional three times'.
Footage of the crash 'appears to show that the aircraft was intact and crashed at a high rate of descent into the ground' at around 12.06pm.
Inman stated: "In regard to visibility, weather will be one of many different [things] we will look at."
He added that the aircraft was 'compressed, buckled and embedded in the terrain'.
An approved release by the Groff, Santoro and Duarte families reads: "We are devastated by the loss of our beloved family members. We will remember them as the six brilliant, dynamic, and loving people that they were."
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