Man with ties to Seymour dies in plane crash

A Seymour man was among three Americans who died in a private plane crash on Friday in South America.

A Seymour man was among three Americans who died in a private plane crash on Friday in South America.

SEYMOUR — A 32-year-old man with ties to Seymour, but living in Paraguay was among three Americans who died in the crash of a private plane on Friday.

Paul Andrew Rust lost his life when the small plane he was flying from Salto del Guairá Airport to the city of Loma Plata in the Paraguayan Chaco crashed, according to the Paraguayan news agency, Chaco al Día.

Rust’s aunt, Ruth Ann Hendrix, said Saturday morning that her nephew, who was the son of James and Ana Freitas Rust, had been living in Panambi, Puerto Adela, Paraguay. His Indiana driver’s license lists a rural Seymour address, but Hendrix said Paul Rust was born in Lafayette.

His family then moved to Paraguay, but in third grade he spent time with another aunt in Seymour and attended Cortland Elementary School, she said.

The family later moved to Germany, but Paul Rust returned to the America to study at Cornell University. Over the years, he also lived with a grandmother in Seymour.

Keith Gwin Killebrew, a 44-year-old native of Lexington, Mississippi, also perished in the crash, according to the Madison County (Mississippi) Journal. He had cotton interests in that region, a family friend told that newspaper.

The third victim has been identified as Heike Stefanie Schroeder Weins, 26, of Paraguay.

Commissioner Cesar Gonzalez of the National Police confirmed the crash of the small plane about 30 miles from the city of Mariscal Estigarribia in the area of the indigenous community of Macharety, the Chaco al Día said in a Facebook post.

The crash of the private Cessna A185F Skywagon was reported about 3 p.m., officials said.