North Dakota State Senator, family, killed in Utah plane crash
October 3, 2023
MOAB, Utah (KFGO/AP) — A plane crash outside the eastern Utah tourist town of Moab killed all four people on board Sunday night, authorities said. North Dakota Senate Majority Leader David Hogue told colleagues via email on Monday morning the victims were District 34 Senator Doug Larsen (pictured), his wife Amy, and their two young children.
The plane crashed shortly after taking off from Canyonlands Airfield about 15 miles north of Moab, Utah according to a Grand County Sheriff’s Department statement posted on Facebook. Hogue’s email said the Larsens were visiting family in Arizona and returning home. They had stopped to refuel in Utah.
The crash of the single-engine Piper plane was being investigated, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a post on X, the social media website formerly called Twitter.
A phone message left with sheriff’s officials seeking additional information wasn’t immediately returned Monday.
Larsen’s biography on the North Dakota Legislature’s website says he was self-employed and a member of the North Dakota Army National Guard for 28 years. He served District 34 (Mandan) since 2021 in the North Dakota Senate.
Hogue said Larsen also had a stepchild who was not on the plane.
