Police: Man meant to kill self, daughter in Bedford plane crash

BEDFORD – “I’ve got her, and you’re not going to get her.”\nBeth Johnson heard those words from her ex-husband Monday morning, shortly before he crashed his rented single-engine plane into his former mother-in-law’s southern Indiana home, killing himself and the couple’s 8-year-old daughter.\nThe mother-in-law, Vivian Pace, gave an account of the cell phone call Tuesday as federal and state investigators were trying to determine why Eric Johnson, a 47-year-old student pilot who had soloed before, strapped daughter Emily into the passenger seat of the Cessna and took off from Virgil I. Grissom Municipal Airport. \nLess than two hours later, the plane crashed into the side of Pace’s one-story house in what police believe was a deliberate act.\n“(Beth Johnson) could hear Emily in the background: ‘Mommy, come get me, come get me,’” Pace said. Pace said she and her daughter had learned recently that Eric Johnson was taking flying lessons and she believed the crash was deliberate.\n“That was the only way he could hurt Beth. That was the only way he could get to her,” she said.\nState and Bedford police were treating the criminal investigation as a suicide and homicide, State Police 1st Sgt. Dave Bursten said. He said they had yet to find any notes indicating Johnson’s intentions with the flight, but the fact that the house was his ex-wife’s mother’s home raised serious questions.\n“All of those things together lead us in the direction that this was done intentionally,” Bursten said Tuesday.\nAndrew Todd Fox of the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that investigators were looking at whether the plane was functioning properly and hoped to have a preliminary report within a week.\nThe airport has no controller on duty, so there was no tape available of any communication, Fox said.\nHe declined to say if Johnson said anything over the plane’s radio before the plane crashed into Pace’s home around 10:45 a.m. Pace was home, but uninjured.\nThe plane had already crashed but the occupants hadn’t been identified when Beth Johnson arrived at the Bedford Police Department to file a missing person report because her daughter hadn’t arrived at school that morning after spending the weekend with her father, Bedford Police Maj. Dennis Parsley said Tuesday.\nParsley told police that her ex-husband, a property manager for the state Department of Natural Resources, had recently taken the girl to Cancun, Mexico for a few days of vacation.\n“(Emily) was to spend the weekend with dad, and dad was supposed to bring her to school Monday morning,” Parsley said.\nInvestigators were still examining the wreckage of the plane crash at Pace’s home in Bedford, about 20 miles south of Bloomington, and hadn’t identified the two bodies inside at the time.\n“It is just gut-wrenching to think about what was happening to that child just prior to the crash,” Bursten said.\nPace said she was in the living room of her home when the plane struck the side. Witnesses said the plane appeared to be trying to land when it veered sharply and went out of sight.\nState police said they had no record of disputes between the Johnsons, but Pace said Eric Johnson had been harassing his ex-wife recently, including buying a house three doors down from hers. The couple had divorced in November after 12 years of marriage, she said during a news conference Tuesday. Eric Johnson also obtained his student pilot’s license in November.\nAt Parkview Primary School in Bedford, where Emily was a first-grader, counselors were called in to help the students, Principal Sari Wood said Tuesday.\n“We’re all grieving over this,” Wood said. She described Emily as a “dear little girl” who “got a kick out of things and enjoyed life.”\n“She just was one of those really friendly, really open little kids,” Wood said.\nCourt records showed Beth Johnson had obtained a restraining order against her husband on July 14, 2006, but police would not disclose the reasons. Pace said Eric Johnson threatened his wife with a gun last summer, while Emily was in Iowa with relatives, in an effort to change her mind about the divorce. Bedford police said they never received a complaint about the alleged incident.\nMary Webb, who lived across from the Johnsons for about 12 years, said police cars were parked outside the home for several weeks last summer. Eric Johnson told her they were there to protect his wife and daughter.\n“He said, ‘I wouldn’t hurt her, I wouldn’t do that,’ and I took his word for it,” Webb said. “He didn’t seem like that type of person at all.”\nWebb said Johnson moved out in the fall under police supervision and was “very bitter about the divorce.”\n“He was wanting custody of (Emily), but he said I’ll settle for visitation,” she said.\nThe couple shared custody of Emily, alternating weekends, according to court records. \nLawrence County coroner John Sherrill said both died from blunt force trauma. Results of toxicology tests on Eric Johnson were pending.\nPastor Paul Neuman of the Calvary Lutheran Church in Bedford said Eric and Emily Johnson were regular attendees at the church, where Eric was a member of the board of trustees and helped with remodeling and landscaping.\nJohnson and his daughter had attended service Sunday morning and there was “absolutely no indication” anything was wrong, Neuman said.\n“Everything seemed normal.”\nAssociated Press Writer Tom Murphy in Indianapolis contributed to this report.