Coroner releases report on plane crash deaths

The Lake County Coroner's office says four people killed in a small plane crash near the National Bison Range last week died of blunt force injuries.

The coroner's report released Thursday said the injuries were caused by the June 27 crash.

The Lake County Coroner's office says four people killed in a small plane crash near the National Bison Range last week died of blunt force injuries.

The coroner's report released Thursday said the injuries were caused by the June 27 crash.

Toxicology reports still are pending.

Two Missoula men and two newspaper reporters from Kalispell were on a sightseeing trip when their single-engine airplane disappeared.

Authorities searched for 2 1/2 days before finding the wreckage on a steep, densely wooded hillside about 80 miles south of Kalispell.

The 1968 Piper Arrow was carrying two Inter Lake reporters - Melissa Weaver, 23, and Erika Hoefer, 27 - along with two Missoula men, Brian Williams, 28, and pilot Sonny Kless, 25.

Weaver's funeral is today in Billings while services for Hoefer will be Thursday, July 15, in Beloit, Wis.

A service for Kless was held in the Flathead Valley on July 3, while a vigil for Williams was held in his home town of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on July 1.

The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to release a preliminary report on the crash soon.

Van McKenny, the safety board investigator, offered initial observations of the crash scene:

"The wreckage was on a hillside in a heavily wooded area.

The entire aircraft was located at the site, meaning that we don't have a debris path. All parts of the airplane were right there ... There was a post-accident fire that consumed the cockpit and cabin area."