Six individuals, including a respected dealer and his spouse, perished in a plane crash in Riverside County, California on July 8.
All six occupants of the Cessna C550 business jet that crashed early Saturday morning in Murrieta, California, outside the French Valley Airport, perished in the accident. The aircraft reportedly descended around 4:15 a.m., sparking a brush fire on impact. According to Riverside County Fire Department officials, the fire torched nearly an acre of vegetation before firefighters contained it around 5:35 a.m.
On July 9, the county sheriff’s-corner office identified the victims as:
- Murrieta resident Abigail Tellez-Vargas, 33
- Temecula resident Manuel Vargas-Regalado, 32,
- Rancho Palos Verdes resident Riese Lenders, 25,
- Huntington Beach resident Lindsey Gleiche, 31,
- Temecula resident Alma Razick, 51,
- Temecula resident Abraham Razick, 46,
Abraham Razick was the owner of Fullerton Ford, located in California, and part-owner of both Hyundai of Yuma and Kia of Yuma, located in Arizona. Razick, whose wife, Alma, also died in the crash, had worked in the automotive industry for two decades at the time of his death. Fullerton Ford paid the devoted parent and Marine a moving homage:
“His spirit and passion for life will not be forgotten, along with his commitment to improving his community. He learned the qualities of honor, courage, and devotion while serving in the Marine Corps, and he lived by these principles every day. Rest easy, Abe.”
Hyundai and Kia of Yuma also paid tribute to Razick through an Instagram post:
“He was a loving husband, father, brother, and proud United States Marine. His spirit and passion for life will not be forgotten along with his commitment to making a community a better place.”
The Razicks’ four children attend Rancho Christian School in Temecula. The school’s president, Scott Treadway, released the following statement:
“The Rancho Christian School community adores Mr. and Mrs. Razick’s four children. We will do everything we can to love, support, and serve them well in collaboration with their excellent support system, friends, and family since this horrific event is causing them tremendous sorrow. Their teachers interact with the children and will be crucial to their future path.”
At a press conference on July 8, Eliott Simpson of the NTSB said, “The pilot reported to air traffic control that he was going to perform a missed approach, which generally happens when the pilot can’t see the runway.” When the approach was missed, air traffic control permitted the pilot to make a second attempt at landing. The pilot crashed 500 feet short of his intended runway, and the aircraft, excluding the tail, was engulfed in fire.
The fatal crash marks the second time a plane crashed near the French Valley Airport in the past week. Tuesday’s (July 4) single-engine Cessna 172 crash near the airport claimed the pilot’s life.
Both collisions remain under investigation.
