Steamboat Pilot & Today

The Routt County Coroner's Office has positively identified 24-year-old Windsor resident Keith Stickel and the plane's pilot, 52-year-old Santa Clara, Calif., resident Walton Chun, as two of the three victims who died in a plane crash Saturday near Rabbit Ears Pass.

Keith Stickel's brother, Don Stickel, said he believes the third victim was 24-year-old Kela Stickel, Keith Stickel's wife.

Dwight Murphy of the Routt County Coroner's Office said autopsies would be conducted on the three bodies at the Jefferson County Coroner's Office. He could not speculate on when the autopsies would be complete.

"Generally, these take a while," Murphy said.

Dental records are needed to confirm the identification of the third victim.

Murphy said his research indicated the pilot, Chun, either lived in Santa Clara, used to live there, or bought the 1975 four-seat Grumman airplane in the area.

Fort Collins Downtown Airport manager Sharone Mekelberg reported that Chun had been renting a hangar at the airport since June.

She said Chun was on leave for four months to work at Hewlett Packard in Fort Collins, and she said he probably lived in Santa Clara.

Keith Stickel worked at the same Hewlett Packard location.

Don Stickel said his brother and sister-in-law left from the Fort Collins airport Saturday morning with a pilot Keith Stickel knew from work.

Mekelberg said Keith Stickel's and Chun's cars remained in the Fort Collins Downtown Airport parking lot until Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board has contacted the Fort Collins airport in relation to its investigation, Mekelberg said.

The Routt County Sheriff's Office turned the accident investigation over to the NTSB, which visited the crash site Monday.

The NTSB could not be reached for an investigation update Wednesday.

-- To reach Erin Ragan call 871-4232

or e-mail intern@steamboatpilot.com