News Release





For further information please contact:


Sgt. Kent Casey


417-359-1500 ext. 2229


DS071805


July 18, 2005





EMPHASIS: Airplane Crash in Lawrence County








At approximately 9:10 A.M. on July 18, 2005 a small airplane crashed in a field just south of the Aurora, Missouri airport in Lawrence County, killing three of the four persons aboard. The airplane, a 1966 Piper PA-30 twin Commmanche, had just taken off from the Aurora airport enroute to Kentucky and was a total loss.





The fatalities are the pilot, Kevin P. Saffold, 25, of Eagle Rock, Missouri, John D. Shaffer, 52, of Shell Knob, Missouri, and Roger O. Jones, 30, of Fayetteville, Arkansas. The lone survivor, Walter R. Blair, 43, of Allen, Texas, was transported to St. Johns Hospital in Springfield, Missouri with serious injuries.





The Federal Aviation Administration, the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department, the Aurora Police Department, the Aurora Rural Fire Protection District, and Lawrence County Coroner, Don Lakin, assisted the Highway Patrol in the investigation of the crash.