NTSB confirms singer Rivera dead in crash
MONTERREY, Mexico — U.S. authorities confirmed Monday that Jenni Rivera, a U.S.-born singer whose soulful voice and openness about her personal troubles made her a Mexican-American superstar, was killed in a plane crash in Mexico.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to help investigate the crash. The board said it was told by Mexican authorities that Rivera had died in Sunday’s crash.
Rivera’s relatives in the United States had few doubts that she was on the Learjet 25 that disintegrated on impact in rugged territory near Iturbide in the Sierra Madre Oriental in Nuevo Leon state.
“My son Lupillo told me that effectively it was Jenni’s plane that crashed and that everyone on board died,” her father, Pedro Rivera, told reporters in front of his Los Angeles-area home. “I believe my daughter’s body is unrecognizable.”
Alejandro Argudin of Mexico’s civil aviation agency said Monday that it would take at least 10 days to get a preliminary report on the crash.
“We’re in the process of picking up the fragments, and we have to find all the parts,” Argudin said. “Depending on weather conditions, it would take us at least 10 days to have a first report and many more days to have a report by experts.”
The Learjet 25, number N345MC, took off from Monterrey at 3:30 a.m. en route to Toluca, outside Mexico City, and was reported missing about 10 minutes later.
The plane was registered to Starwood Management LLC, which gives its address as 3540 W. Sahara Ave. in Federal Aviation Administration records.
But there is no sign that Starwood has any operations in Las Vegas, and records indicate the plane was based in Houston.
The plane was built in 1969 and had a registration through 2015.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the twin-turbojet was damaged in a 2005 landing at Amarillo International Airport in Texas. It hit a runway distance marker after losing directional control. There were four aboard but no injuries. It was registered to a company in Houston, Texas, as the time.
The company is also subject of a federal lawsuit in Nevada.