Deseret News by Pat Reavy 8/13/2018
Federal Aviation Administration personnel investigate a plane crash in Payson on Monday, Aug. 13, 2018. Police say the pilot, Duane Youd, appears to have intentionally crashed the plane into his own home. He had been arrested a few hours earlier for investigation of domestic violence. Youd was killed in the crash but his wife and her adult son escaped without injury.
Hours after a Payson man was released from jail in a domestic violence case, police say he took off in a small plane and then crashed it into his own house.
Duane "Rhedd" Youd, 47, died in the crash. But his wife and her adult son were able to escape the crash and burning home uninjured. Payson Police Sgt. Noemi Sandoval called it a "miracle" that the other two survived.
"It could have been so much worse," she said.
Despite his alleged actions, some of Youd's children stood up for him Monday, saying they will remember him as a hard-working, giving man who had hit a rough patch in his life.
The bizarre and violent string of events began about 7:30 p.m. Sunday in American Fork Canyon. Sandoval said Youd and his wife got into a fight.
"They had been drinking. He assaulted her and witnesses saw this happening," she said.
Those witnesses called the Utah County Sheriff's Office. Deputies arrested Youd and booked him into the Utah County Jail about 9:20 p.m. for investigation of assault. In his mug shot from the jail, Youd has obvious scratches and cuts on his nose and forehead.
A few hours later Youd bailed out, Sandoval said.
At 12:52 a.m. Monday, Youd called Payson police for a "keep the peace" call, meaning he was going to go back to his home and collect a few personal items and wanted police there to make sure there wasn't any additional fighting.
"There was no argument here at the home," Sandoval said of Youd's return to his house.
But after he left, police believe he went to the Spanish Fork Airport and took a Cessna Citation 525 jet. The plane belonged to the company he worked for and he had access to it, but he did not personally own it, according to Sandoval.
More:
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900027981/pilot-dies-after-plane-crashes-into-payson-house.html
