Severe weather may have led Texas plane to crash, killing 4

MARSHALL, Texas (AP) — Authorities say severe weather may have caused a twin-engine Cessna to lose altitude and crash in East Texas, killing the four people aboard.

Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Jean Dark said in a statement Tuesday that the Cessna 337 was traveling Saturday from Dallas to New Orleans when in crashed in a wooded area south of Hallsville. The town is just east of Longview.

Dark identified the pilot as 51-year-old William Robert Kendrick of Huffman, an unincorporated community northeast of Houston. Also killed were 47-year-old Rebecca Marsh Kendrick of Huffman and 27-year-old Kaycee Ann Kendrick of Farmers Branch, a Dallas suburb.

Dark could not confirm their relationship to one another. The fourth person who died was 25-year-old Coty Ray Shrum of Farmers Branch.

The National Transportation Safety Board is among the agencies investigating the crash.