By Linda Kor
About 20 pounds of marijuana and more than $8,000 in cash were found in the wreckage of a plane crash just north of the Holbrook Municipal Airport that claimed four lives on Wednesday, June 24.
The twin engine Beechcraft Bonanza took off from Santa Rosa, Calif., and was refueled at the Holbrook airport, with plans to continue on to Laga Vista, Texas. The same plane had landed at the Holbrook Airport the day before.
Eyewitness accounts related by the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office note that at approximately 5 p.m. last Wednesday, the plane lifted off the runway and then the pilot appeared to pull the plane up at a steep angle before plunging to the ground. The plane was immediately engulfed in flames due to the impact and although medical services were called in, it was already too late to save those aboard the plane.
The aircraft was registered to David Tuntland, 45, of Cedar Park, Texas, who was piloting the plane. His passengers were James Gordon, 33, and his wife, Catherine Perando-Gordon, 42, also of Cedar Park, and Kyle Daniel Peters, 21, of Santa Rosa.
Commander Bob Sutton of the sheriff’s office said that the bodies had been badly burned. The drugs and money were largely intact, as they were in a suitcase stored under the passenger seats.
Employees at the airport reported that the pilot had been ill prior to takeoff.
“The other three people went to get something to eat while the plane was refueling, but the pilot stayed behind and was lying on the couch in the office,” stated Armando Aguilera, an employee of the city who was assisting at the airport. “He had thrown up and was obviously sick.”
During the ongoing investigation at the crash site last Thursday, investigators received information from Texas authorities that the plane was being watched for suspected drug activities as a “transporter.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are continuing to investigate the accident.
Photo by Linda Kor
This is all that remains of the small aircraft that crashed just north of the Holbrook Airport on June 24. All four occupants of the plane died at the scene.
Photo courtesy of the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office
At the crash site, approximately 20 pounds of marijuana and a large amount of cash were recovered from the plane wreckage by Federal Aviation Administration investigators.
