Names released for 8 aboard plane missing off NC, including 4 teens. What we know

Update: The Carteret County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday, Feb. 16, that all of the bodies have been recovered. Two have been positively identified.

Original story: The Carteret County Sheriff’s Office confirmed on Tuesday, Feb. 15, that four of the eight people aboard a plane that crashed off North Carolina were teens who lived in coastal Carteret County.

They have been identified as:

• Jonathan Kole McInnis, 15, of Sea Level
• Noah Lee Styron, 15, of Cedar Island
• Michael Daily Shepard, 15, of Atlantic
• Jacob Nolan Taylor, 16, of Atlantic

All four were students at East Carteret High School, according to Carteret County Public Schools.

Adults aboard the plane: pilot Ernest Durwood Rawls, 67, and his son Jeffrey Worthington Rawls, 28, both of Greenville, N.C.; Stephanie Ann McInnis Fulcher, 42, of Sea Level; and Douglas Hunter Parks, 45, of Sea Level.

One body has been recovered, but the identity of that person has not been released.

No one survived the crash, which happened around 2 p.m. Feb. 13, four miles east of Drum Inlet, officials say.

The fuselage of the Pilatus PC-12 single-engine passenger aircraft was found late Feb. 14, about three miles off the coast, officials said at a Feb. 15 press conference.

It sits in 55 feet of water and dive teams began recovering remains of passengers on the afternoon of Feb. 15, officials said. The plane’s transponder is also being sought, to help determine why it crashed, officials said.

Conditions at the crash site were described as challenging, with cold temperatures, high winds and “choppy seas.”

The four teens were returning to Beaufort, N.C., from a hunting trip in Hyde County at the time of the crash, the sheriff’s office said.

Photos from inside the plane appear to have been posted Feb. 13 by passenger Stephanie Fulcher on Facebook during their trip, and the posts have gotten thousands of responses from mourners. The photos show some of the teens eating McDonald’s hamburgers in their seats.

“Heartbreaking for every person that calls Carteret County home,” one woman said.

“This rips my heart out,” a man posted.

“A tragedy beyond words,” another said.

Hunting groups around the country have also responded to the news, with Traditions Waterfowl Magazine calling it a “Youth Day disaster.”

Carteret County Public Schools released a statement Feb. 15, reporting the tragedy “has deeply affected several schools in our system.”

“Counselors and crisis team members have been on the campus at East Carteret High School supporting students and staff since Monday morning and will remain as long as additional support is needed,” the district wrote. “Additional counselors have been present and available in the impacted schools Down East.”

The crash was first reported by an air traffic controller at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, who saw an aircraft “behaving erratically on radar and then disappeared from the radar screen,” Coast Guard officials said.

Debris has been found floating as far as 15 miles off shore, searchers said Feb. 14.

The plane crashed near the southern most part of Outer Banks. The area is home to Cape Lookout National Seashore, and National Park Service staff have been searching beaches for any sign of the plane or passengers.

This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 2:53 PM with the headline "Names released for 8 aboard plane missing off NC, including 4 teens. What we know."