The dead in upstate New York plane crash included 2022 NCAA woman of the year and family members

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ, Associated Press

A private plane that crashed in upstate New York over the weekend was carrying six members of a close-knit family of physicians and distinguished student-athletes on a trip to the Catskills for a birthday celebration and the Passover holiday.

The twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B went down shortly after noon Saturday in a muddy field in Copake, New York, near the Massachusetts line, killing everyone on board, according to authorities and a family member who spoke to The Associated Press.

Shortly before the crash, the pilot had radioed air traffic control at Columbia County Airport to say he had missed the initial approach and requested a new approach plan, officials with the National Transportation Safety Board said at a Sunday briefing. While preparing the new coordinates, air traffic controllers attempted to relay a low altitude alert three times, with no response from the pilot and no distress call, officials said.

Investigators obtained video of the final seconds of the flight, which “appears to show that the aircraft was intact and crashed at a high rate of descent into the ground,” NTSB official Todd Inman told reporters.

Among the victims were Karenna Groff, a former MIT soccer player named the 2022 NCAA woman of the year; her father, a neuroscientist, Dr. Michael Groff; her mother, Dr. Joy Saini, a urogynecologist; her brother, Jared Groff, a 2022 graduate of Swarthmore College who worked as a paralegal; Alexia Couyutas Duarte, Jared Groff’s partner who also graduated Swarthmore and planned to attend Harvard Law School this fall; and Karenna Groff’s boyfriend, James Santoro, another recent MIT graduate, according to a family statement Sunday.

“They were a wonderful family,” James’ father, John Santoro, told AP. “The world lost a lot of very good people who were going to do a lot of good for the world if they had the opportunity. We’re all personally devastated.”

Santoro said his son first met Karenna Groff as a freshman studying at MIT. Groff, who grew up in Weston, Massachusetts, was an All-American soccer player studying biomedical engineering. Santoro, a math major from New Jersey, played lacrosse for the school.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Karenna Groff co-founded openPPE, helping to create a new design of masks for essential workers. In 2023, she received the prestigious NCAA woman of the year award for the previous year for her on- and off-field accomplishments.

“Really, this recognition is a testament to my MIT women’s soccer family and all of the guidance, support, and friendship they have provided for me over the years,” she said in an interview at the time.

After graduating, Santoro and Groff moved to Manhattan, where Groff enrolled in medical school at New York University and Santoro worked as an investment associate for Silver Point, a hedge fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut.

India-born Saini was an accomplished pelvic surgeon and the founder of Boston Pelvic Health and Wellness, according to the family statement. She trained in medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, where she met Michael Groff, who became a distinguished neurosurgeon and experienced pilot, the statement said.

On Saturday morning, they all headed to Westchester County Airport in White Plains, a suburb of New York City, where they boarded Michael Groff’s private plane, according to John Santoro.

They were set to land at Columbia County Airport but crashed roughly 10 miles to the south. The plane was “compressed, buckled and embedded in the terrain” of a muddy agricultural field, Inman said.

The pilot was flying under instrument flight rules, rather than visual flight rules, but it was too soon to determine if reduced visibility from weather conditions were a factor, he said.

The plane had been sold a year ago and had an upgraded cockpit with newer technology that was certified to Federal Aviation Administration standards, according to the NTSB.

Investigators expect to be at the crash site for about a week and a full accident report could take between 12 and 24 months to complete, Inman said.

Funeral arrangements were underway, Santoro said.

“The 25 years we had with James were the best years of our lives,” he added, “and the joy and love he brought us will be enough to last a lifetime.”