A North Dakota state senator, his wife, and their two young children died after the small plane they were traveling in crashed soon after they stopped to refuel in Utah, a Senate leader announced on Monday.
The tragic plane crash shook the peaceful eastern Utah town of Moab on Sunday night.
The heartbreaking news was confirmed by North Dakota Senate Majority Leader David Hogue in an email sent on Monday morning.
The ill-fated flight involved a single-engine Piper plane and met its devastating end shortly after taking off from Canyonlands Airfield, located approximately 15 miles north of Moab. The Grand County Sheriff’s Department shared details of the incident on Facebook.
The precise cause of the crash is still under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
A board investigator was expected to arrive at the scene Monday “to begin to document the scene, examine the aircraft, request any air traffic communications, radar data, weather reports and try to contact any witnesses. Also, the investigator will request maintenance records of the aircraft, and medical records and flight history of the pilot.” NTSB spokesman announced.
According to the email from Hogue, the Larsen family had been on a visit to relatives in Arizona and were on their way back home. They had made a stop in Utah to refuel their aircraft.
“Senator Doug Larsen, his wife Amy, and their two young children died in a plane crash last evening in Utah,” Hogue said in his email. “They were visiting family in Scottsdale and returning home. They stopped to refuel in Utah.”
“I’m not sure where the bereavement starts with such a tragedy, but I think it starts with prayers for the grandparents, surviving stepchild of Senator Larsen, and extended family of Doug and Amy,” Hogue continued. “Hold your family close today.”
Senator Doug Larsen, a self-employed individual, had dedicated 28 years of his life to the North Dakota Army National Guard. He had been representing District 34 (Mandan) in the North Dakota Senate since 2021, leaving a significant impact on his community and state.
In response, Gov. Doug Burgum’s office issued a statement and said Larsen “was a father, husband, coach, entrepreneur, businessman, state senator and lieutenant colonel in the North Dakota National Guard who committed himself fully to each of those roles with an unwavering sense of honor and duty. As a legislator, he was a tenacious advocate for individual rights and the freedoms he defended through his military service.”
