The names of the three men and one woman who were involved in Saturday’s private jet crash in Gordon County have been released to the public. Law enforcement located all four victim’s bodies around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday and notified the families.
The 23-year-old woman was identified as Samantha Sims. She and her boyfriend 25-year-old Morgen Smith were celebrating their 4-year anniversary. Roy Smith, Morgen’s father, was the pilot of the Cessna Citation and his co-pilot was Ray Sluk.
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The couple was said to love traveling together. The destination of the Cessna Citation was confirmed to be John C. Tune Airport in Nashville, TN.
The jet was no longer visible on the radar over Cherokee County and was last seen going down in the woods of Gordon County.
The area of the woods that the jet went down in was miles away from any main road. Those responding to the accident had to either go in on foot or use all-terrain vehicles to gain access to the accident site. The site was about 50 miles north of Atlanta.
There has still not been a determination as to what caused the accident with the jet that killed all 4 passengers on board.
The NTSB plans to hold a formal investigation into the crash, however, at the present time they are working with what they know from the crash site until they can get the wreckage moved to a facility.
The NTSB plans on exploring all areas (mechanical, environmental, human) in which the accident could have rooted from. The weather on the day of the accident was snowy but they cannot confirm that it played a role.
At this point, the investigation will continue and there will be updates released as they become available to the public.