MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL
a division of the
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

Troop B Headquarters - 308 Pine Crest Drive - Macon, Missouri 63552


NEWS RELEASE

For further information please contact: Sergeant Brent J. Bernhardt
(660) 385-2132
B15123
December 7, 2015

EMPHASIS: Plane Crash In Chariton County

At approximately 9:15 p.m., on December 6, 2015, Troop B Headquarters received a report from a citizen that a small aircraft had crashed approximately eight miles northeast of Keytesville, Missouri, in Chariton County. Members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Chariton County Sheriff’s Department, and emergency rescue personnel responded to the area and located a 1946 year model Cessna 140 single-engine airplane crashed in a hayfield. Both occupants of the aircraft were pronounced dead at the scene by Chariton County Coroner Larry Brashears, and they have been taken to the Boone County Medical Examiner’s Office in Columbia, Missouri, pending autopsies. The occupants have been identified as Andrew J. Beautte, 40, of La Plata, Missouri, and Dawn L. Harl, 38, of Des Moines, Iowa. It is believed that Beautte was the pilot of the aircraft.
It is unknown at this time from where the aircraft had taken off or its destination. Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration will be on scene sometime on December 7, 2015, to conduct a complete investigation.
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