Plane Crash Victims Identified

A California family and a hired pilot have been identified as the four victims of a plane crash that occurred North of Eugene on Friday. Linn County Sheriff Bruce Riley says John A. Zitting, 42, Karen Blackmore, Zitting, 37, and their 17-year-old son John Brendan Zitting, all of Van Nuys, were on board the single-engine plane that went down in a field near Peoria.  Mark Aletky, 67, of Acton, California was piloting the plane. All four on-board died in the crash.

The family was on a college scouting trip to visit the University of Oregon. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

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Love Cross joined KLCC in 2017. She began her public radio career as a graduate student, serving as Morning Edition Host for Boise State Public Radio in the late 1990s. She earned her undergraduate degree in Rhetoric and Communication from University of California at Davis, and her Master’s Degree from Boise State University. In addition to her work in public radio, Love teaches college-level courses in Communication and Public Speaking.