May K. Brion and Three Family Members Among Six Killed in Wisconsin Plane Crash
1. May K. Brion, her daughters and grandson were among six people killed in a Sauk County, Wisconsin, plane crash on October 13.
Six people died in a plane crash in Sauk County, Wisconsin, on October 13, including 67-year-old Mary K. Brion, her two adult daughters, and her 13-year-old grandson. Authorities identified all six victims on Thursday, bringing names to a tragedy that claimed four members of one family alongside pilot Ronald R. Riek and Tyler J. Harvey, 36. The loss spans generations, leaving loved ones to grieve multiple family members at once.
The crash happened around 9:30 p.m. near Park Lane in the Town of Dellona, in a wooded area near Mirror Lake State Park. The aircraft, a single-engine Piper PA-46 Malibu, was making a return trip from Kenosha to Menomonie. According to the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office, all six people aboard were found dead at the scene. Authorities reported no injuries on the ground, but the loss aboard the plane has deeply affected families and communities across Wisconsin.
Mary Brion, 67, of Nelson, was traveling with daughters Amanda M. Haremza, 45, of Altoona, and Kayla C. Turpin, 39, of Eau Claire. Haremza’s son, Rylan, 13, was also among those killed. Their deaths mean one family has lost relatives across three generations in a single incident. The sheriff’s office released the victims’ identities Thursday, while relatives and community members began confronting the scale of the loss.
Family members told The Associated Press that the group had traveled to watch a high school volleyball game in Salem, where Brion’s granddaughters were playing. The visit was a chance to see family members who lived hours away by car. Mary’s husband, David Brion, said she loved watching her grandchildren. The trip had been something the family looked forward to, making the return journey’s tragic ending especially difficult for those left behind.
The other victims were Ronald R. Riek, 63, of Woodville, who was piloting the plane, and Tyler J. Harvey, 36, of Cadott. Riek was a licensed and experienced pilot as well as a local business owner, according to reports. Harvey was identified among the six people aboard. Their deaths have also affected friends, colleagues, and people connected to Wisconsin’s aviation community, adding another circle of grief beyond the family that lost four relatives.
Investigators are still working to determine what caused the crash. Preliminary information from the National Transportation Safety Board says the pilot reported icing at about 24,000 feet and requested permission to descend. Air traffic control approved the request. The aircraft then entered a right descending turn that increased in rate until communication and tracking data were lost. Those details describe the sequence known so far, but investigators have not issued a final determination of the cause.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the NTSB are investigating, with the NTSB leading the safety inquiry. Investigators will examine evidence from the aircraft and the circumstances of the flight before drawing conclusions. Until that work is complete, it would be premature to assign a definitive cause. For relatives, however, the immediate reality is already clear: six people who boarded the plane did not return, and those who loved them must begin navigating life after the loss.
The crash is more than a list of names or an aviation investigation; it is a devastating rupture in several families’ lives. Mary Brion, her daughters, and her grandson were part of a family outing that ended in unimaginable grief, while Riek and Harvey are mourned by people whose lives they touched. As investigators seek answers, those left behind face a much harder task: remembering the people they lost while learning to live with their absence. Their names carry stories of family, friendship, and lives cut short too soon.
