Two people have died following the crash of a small plane near Keytesville, Missouri.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, troopers were called at approximately 9:15 p.m. on December 6 to investigate the crash approximately eight miles northeast of Keytesville. A 1946 Cessna 140 single-engine plane was located crashed in a hay field.

Chariton County Coroner Larry Brashears pronounced the occupants of the aircraft - 40-year-old Andrew Beautte of La Plata and 38-year-old Dawn Harl of Des Moines, Iowa - dead at the scene.

The bodies of Beautte and Harl were taken to the Boone County Medical Examiner's Office in Columbia for autopsies.

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Press release from the Missouri State Highway Patrol

At approximately 9:15 p.m., on December 6, 2015, Troop B Headquarters received a report from a citizen that a small aircraft had crashed approximately eight miles northeast of Keytesville, Missouri, in Chariton County. Members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Chariton County Sheriff’s Department, and emergency rescue personnel responded to the area and located a 1946 year model Cessna 140 single-engine airplane crashed in a hayfield. Both occupants of the aircraft were pronounced dead at the scene by Chariton County Coroner Larry Brashears, and they have been taken to the Boone County Medical Examiner’s Office in Columbia, Missouri, pending autopsies. The occupants have been identified as Andrew J. Beautte, 40, of La Plata, Missouri, and Dawn L. Harl, 38, of Des Moines, Iowa. It is believed that Beautte was the pilot of the aircraft.

It is unknown at this time from where the aircraft had taken off or its destination. Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration will be on scene sometime on December 7, 2015, to conduct a complete investigation.

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