Six people, including members of the same family, were killed on Saturday when their private plane crashed in upstate New York as they were heading to the Catskills to celebrate a birthday and enjoy Passover seder night traditions.
The twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B went down near the Massachusetts line around midday, killing Karenna Groff, a former MIT soccer player named the 2022 NCAA woman of the year; her father, a neuroscientist, Dr. Michael Groff; her mother, Dr. Joy Saini, a urogynecologist; her brother, Jared Groff, a 2022 graduate of Swarthmore College who worked as a paralegal; Alexia Couyutas Duarte, Jared Groff's partner who also graduated Swarthmore and planned to attend Harvard Law School; and Karenna Groff’s boyfriend, James Santoro, another recent MIT graduate.
“They were a wonderful family,” Santoro’s father told the Associated Press. “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.”
“The 25 years we had with James were the best years of our lives,” he added, “and the joy and love he brought us will be enough to last a lifetime.”
Meet the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year, Karenna Groff of @MITAthletics!#NCAAWOTY pic.twitter.com/CizP7dkXzB
— NCAA (@NCAA) January 12, 2023
Karenna Groff, in addition to her successes on the soccer field, co-founded openPPE during the COVID-19 pandemic – designing new masks to support essential workers.
In 2016, Groff also played for the US team in the Maccabiah games in Israel. She was enrolled at NYU medical school at the time of her death, while her partner worked as an investment associate for Silver Point. She would have turned 25 this past weekend.
Weston Public Schools superintendent Dr. Karen Zalenski and Weston High School principal Sue Bairstow shared in a Sunday letter following news of the deaths, “Two of our graduates, Karenna Groff (2018) and Jarad Groff (2017), their parents, and several friends were killed in a small plane crash in New York yesterday. Their lives ended far too soon, and our hearts are with all those who are grieving this unimaginable and sudden loss."
What caused the crash?
Video footage obtained by investigators shows that the plane was intact when it began to dive at high speed towards the ground. The pilot reported an unsuccessful landing attempt and asked to try to land again.
However, during the second landing attempt, a low-altitude alarm was activated, Walla reported. The air traffic controller tried to contact the pilot three times to warn him of the plane's dangerous altitude, but without success. No distress calls were recorded from the pilot.
National Transportation Safety Board official Todd Inman told reporters the plane had been sold a year ago and had an upgraded cockpit with newer technology that was certified to Federal Aviation Administration standards, according to ESPN.
Investigations into the crash are ongoing.
