Plane Crash Victims: Who Is Eric Falbe? Bodies Of All Four Family Members Found After Plane Crash

The bodies of a family of four from Arizona were discovered in the wreckage of a plane crash Tuesday in the mountainous northern region of Payson, Arizona. The family, which had two teenage daughters, was making their annual holiday ski trip to Telluride, Colorado, when their small plane crashed for reasons that remain unknown, Gila County Sheriff Adam Shepherd said.

Authorities had been searching for the plane since it had been reported missing Monday night. A search team that had been working with a helicopter supplied by Civil Air Patrol spotted debris from the single-engine Cessna 210 plane in the geographically arduous Mogollon Rim, according to local reports on Jan. 4. Police had been able to pinpoint the family’s location by tracking one of their cell phones.

The search team on the ground had to hike for almost an hour in order to reach the crash site.

"The terrain up there is just really super rugged," Shepherd told local reporters. "It's pretty rough, steep, straight up and down."

The sheriff’s office was able to identify the family and the plane by matching the number found on its tail in the crash site with Federal Aviation Administration records that indicated it belonged to Eric Falbe, the 44-year-old father.

The other family members have been identified as his wife Carrie, 31, and his two children from a previous marriage; Tori, 14, and Skylar, 12. Their bodies had all been recovered from the remote mountainside 14 miles north of Payson. Payson is located roughly 90 miles northwest of Phoenix, Arizona.

Eric Falbe was an attorney who largely dealt with real estate mediation cases. His law partner, Michael Maledon, confirmed that the family had indeed been on the fatal plane ride.

"For those that worked with Eric, he will be remembered as a truly exceptional businessman and lawyer," Maledon told local reporters in an email. "But beyond Eric’s professional accomplishments, Eric and Carrie will be remembered for their passion for life and warmth toward others."

An unidentified man, who is assumed to the grandfather, told authorities in Scottsdale, Arizona, he hadn’t heard from his daughter or son-in-law or either of the two girls since their plane took off for Telluride, according to Associated Press Tuesday.

The school the two girls had been attending released a statement offering their condolences for the Falbe family and offered any students grief counselors to combat their emotional instabilities following the news.