The search resumed Friday morning for the body of a teenage boy whose family died in a plane crash in Lake Wales Thursday afternoon.
Pilot Ronald Bramlage, 45, his wife Rebecca, 43, and their four children died when their Pilatus PC-12 crashed in the Tiger Creek Swamp area of rural eastern Polk County.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd confirmed the flight's manifest showed two adults and four children were supposed to be on board the flight.
Judd identified the children as Brandon, 15; Boston, 13; Beau, 11 and Roxanne, 8.
Officials at Kansas State University confirmed the namesake of their Bramlage Coliseum arena is named for the victim's father, Fred. Ronald Bramlage was a known philanthropist in the state and his wife was a school board president.
Investigators believe the missing child is Boston, based on descriptions of what he was wearing when the family left the Bahamas.
"We are looking for this child as if this was our child out here," Judd said in a Thursday night news conference. "If it takes days or weeks or whatever it takes, we will still be looking.
Investigators believe the boy may have come out of the plane while it was breaking up in the air.
"We can assure you one thing, a child came out of the aircraft at some point," Judd said.
Judd confirmed there was "a gaping hole" in the aircraft in the area of one of the seats. When asked if investigators knew for sure if the boy left the aircraft in midair, Judd said, "We know that the child's not in the aircraft."
Once heavy equipment reached the plane, the plane was lifted to search for the body, Judd said. The boy was not found.
The plane went down in an area that is not accessible by ground without specialty vehicles. Crews made their way to the area with four-wheelers. "It was immediately clear that there were no survivors of the crash," investigators said. "It is apparent that parts of the aircraft separated before the crash."
"It's a massive operation and massive undertaking," Judd added.
Emergency crews had to be lowered to the crash site by a sheriff's office helicopter. Officials said equipment became stuck trying to get back to the crash site in the rugged area the plane went down.
According to flight tracking website FlightAware, the plane took off from Treasure Cay Airport in the Bahamas on Thursday morning at 9:25 a.m. and landed at St. Lucie County International Airport at 10:15 a.m.
The plane flew northwest over Polk County, took a hard turn back to the southeast, turned sharp to the left, flew over more rural area and crashed near Lake Kissimmee. Officials said the aircraft was traveling at approximately 26,000 feet when it first began experiencing trouble.
The plane left the airport at 12:05 p.m. and the first report of a plane down came in at 12:36 p.m. The plane was due to arrive in Junction City, Kansas at 3:41 p.m.
Witness Barbara McLaughlin said she saw the plane "twirling around" but she did not witness the plane crashing. "I didn’t know if the plane was doing acrobats,” she said, via phone. "It was awful.”
A nearby airport, David Wine’s Airstrip Airport, is located at 2605 Walk-in-Water Road in Lake Wales. Officials have not stated if Bramlage may have been trying to make it to the airstrip.
Witnesses told deputies they heard the plane sputtering, looked up and saw the plane flip and fly upside down. Judd said witnesses saw the plane dive to the ground at a 90-degree angle and a debris trail of three to four miles has been found.
According to Judd, the plane was breaking apart before it crashed.
"We don't know why the plane came apart in midair." He said the plane did not strike another airplane in the air: "Zero chance."
Judd said that residents in the area should not pick up any of the plane's debris.
"Please do not pick up pieces of the aircraft, call the sheriff's office. We'll send someone to you. We need to mark the exact location of the pieces," he said.
A witness who called 911 described the crash scene to emergency dispatchers.
"He’s advising now black smoke and gas leaking, advised flames at the cockpit of the aircraft," the dispatcher said.
Later in the call, the dispatcher said, "There doesn’t appear to be any survivors. They’re just working on putting out the fire now with the fire extinguisher.”
Casey Anthony used plane in past
Polk Co. Sheriff Judd confirmed the plane that crashed Thursday has been used by Casey Anthony in the past.
According to Judd, a lawyer for Anthony, Todd Macaluso, at some point used the plane and Anthony has been on several flights aboard the plane.
The plane was later repossessed. The new owners were killed in the crash Thursday.
Anthony and the previous lawyer are in no way connected to Thursday's crash.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is conducting the death investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Authority will be conducting investigations related the crash.
Additionally, the aircraft manufacturer and the engine manufacturer will be conducting investigations, Judd said. Investigators said the aircraft is owned by Roadside Ventures LLC of Junction City, Kansas. Bramlage, of Junction City, is the owner of Roadside Ventures LLC.