Families Name the Learjet Passengers: a Couple, Their Two Small Children, the Children's Nanny and Another Couple
In a joint statement Monday, the families identified Adam Robinson, Helen Sharp, their children Emma and Charlie, nanny Anita Maria Cetina, and Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr. Officials have confirmed none of the names and say formal identification, using DNA, will take time.
The families of the people aboard the Learjet 60 that crashed near Greenacres on Sunday have begun naming them themselves. In a joint statement issued Monday, relatives identified the passengers as Adam Robinson, 45, his wife, Helen Sharp, 40, and their children, Emma, 2, and Charlie, 4; the children's nanny, Anita Maria Cetina; and another couple, Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, the Palm Beach Post reported. “We are deeply grateful to the first responders, investigators, and the Palm Beach County community for their care, and to everyone who has reached out with love,” the families wrote. “Our hearts are also with the families of the pilots, who are grieving alongside us.”
The co-pilot's family has spoken as well. The mother and stepfather of Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras identified the 20-year-old to the New York Post as the flight's co-pilot, the Post reported; she grew up in Palm Beach County and earned her private pilot's license at 17, as a West Boca Raton High School senior, before she had a driver's license. Her sister Giulia Filgueiras, 21, told reporters outside the family's Boca Raton home that Nathalia “fought until the last moment she could.” On Monday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman defended her on his personal X account, noting she was the second-in-command and was communicating with air traffic controllers shortly before the crash: “She was doing her job, communicating with ATC right to the end in a terrifying situation.” Isaacman cautioned against drawing conclusions about the cause before investigators complete their work.
Officially, no name has been confirmed. Authorities have not confirmed the identities of any of the nine people killed, and county officials said Monday there is no timeline for releasing them: County Administrator Joe Abruzzo said positive identification of remains using DNA still has to be completed, and “it's a lengthy process.” The names above are published here as the families have released them, which is how the families themselves have chosen to make them known.
Nine people died when the Austin-to-Bahamas flight came down at Military Trail and Cresthaven Boulevard at about 12:50 p.m. Sunday, exploding into a fireball, scattering debris across a half-mile field, crushing cars, cutting power and displacing an estimated 600 people from a nearby mobile home community. The National Transportation Safety Board's investigation, including whether the jet began breaking up before impact, is continuing at the site.
