Update: North Dakota Senator, family members killed in airplane crash

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A state senator from North Dakota, his wife and their two young children died when the small plane they were riding crashed in Utah, a Senate leader said Monday.

Doug Larsen’s death was confirmed Monday in an email that Republican Senate Majority Leader David Hogue sent to his fellow senators and was obtained by The Associated Press.

The plane crashed Sunday evening shortly after taking off from Canyonlands Airfield about 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of Moab, according to a Grand County Sheriff’s Department statement posted on Facebook. The sheriff’s office said all four people on board the plane were killed.

“Senator Doug Larsen, his wife Amy, and their two young children died in a plane crash last evening in Utah,” Hogue wrote in his email. “They were visiting family in Scottsdale and returning home. They stopped to refuel in Utah.”

The crash of the single-engine Piper plane was being investigated, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a post on X, the social media website formerly called Twitter.

A phone message left with sheriff’s officials seeking additional information wasn’t immediately returned Monday.

Moab is a tourism-centered community of about 5,300 people near Arches and Canyonlands national parks.

Gov. Doug Burgum issued the following statement on the tragedy:

“First Lady Kathryn, Lt. Gov. Miller and I are deeply saddened by the heartbreaking loss of Sen. Doug Larsen, his wife, Amy, and their two young sons. Sen. Larsen was a father, husband, coach, entrepreneur, businessman, state senator and lieutenant colonel in the North Dakota National Guard who committed himself fully to each of those roles with an unwavering sense of honor and duty,” said Burgum, commander-in-chief of the North Dakota National Guard. “As a legislator, he was a tenacious advocate for individual rights and the freedoms he defended through his military service. We extend our deepest sympathies and prayers to his family and friends and join his legislative colleagues, National Guard brothers and sisters and the Mandan community in mourning the tragic passing of Sen. Larsen and his family.”

Senate Minority Leader Kathy Hogan expressed her sympathy on behalf of the Democratic-NPL caucus, “Our hearts ache for Senator Larsen’s family. Doug was always respectful and kind, and His service as a lieutenant colonel in the North Dakota Army National Guard and in our legislature shows just how dedicated he was to our state and country.”