A hiker in Park County found the wreckage of a plane Sunday that was confirmed to be that of a Texas family of four missing since Friday.
Authorities think energy company executive Thomas Paul Jacomini Jr., 45, his wife, Susana, 38, and their children, Thomas, 8, and Vivi, 5, died in the crash on Mount Guyot.
The family was returning to their ranch in Brenham, Texas, from a vacation in Steamboat Springs, where Susana Jacomini’s parents own a home.
Jacomini did not file a flight plan, and searchers got no signal from the Cessna’s emergency locater transmitter, according to the Civil Air Patrol.
The plane was found 120 miles from its departure from Steamboat Springs Airport en route to the Houston area.
Recovery and positive identification of the bodies is underway. The investigation shifts to the Park County coroner’s office and the National Transportation Safety Board, said Civil Air Patrol Maj. Mark Young, who coordinated the aerial search.
Though the cause of the crash is still under investigation, the plane departed fully fueled about 8:30 a.m. Friday, according to the Civil Air Patrol. The plane flew into cloudy skies and light but steady rain. Heavier rainfall, light snow in high elevations and scattered thunderstorms rolled across parts of Routt, Summit and Park counties in the afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
The plane was about 1 mile into Park County, about 9 miles northwest of the town of Jefferson.
The Cessna 182 was returning to Sugar Land, a Houston suburb near the family ranch.
The couple married in 1999 on the Jacomini family ranch near Round Top, Texas, according to the Laredo Morning Times. Susana Jacomini was originally from Laredo.
The Houston Chronicle reported that Jacomini works in the natural gas industry in Houston and was an experienced, well-trained pilot used to high-altitude flying.
The plane disappeared off radar as it entered the mountain ranges along the Continental Divide. It is not unusual that a flight plan is not filed, according to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.
Without a flight plan on record, the search grew to include the entire route, with planes searching in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas, as well.
“Going off the radar in northern Summit County was a clue, but it wasn’t definitive,” Young said.
The search included 30,000 square miles in areas blanketed with snow or drenched in rain, making the hunt difficult.
Six search planes and two helicopters, along with ground crews, had been searching near Georgia Pass near Breckenridge.
Before dropping off radar, Jacomini was flying at about 11,000 feet roughly 70 miles north of Mount Guyot, the summit of which is 13,370 feet above sea level.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
