State Briefs
BY Associated Press
Monday, January 21, 2013
1/21/13 at 3:09 AM
Two adults, one child die in house fire Saturday
SHADY POINT - Le Flore County authorities said a couple and a child believed to be their 3-year-old great-grandson have been killed in a house fire at Shady Point.
Sheriff Rob Seale told The Southwest Times-Record that Paul Helton and Levunia Helton - both 73 - died in the Saturday fire. Seale said the child's name is not yet being released.
Seale said the bodies were found inside the home after firefighters extinguished the flames and have been sent to the state Medical Examiner's Office in Tulsa to determine the causes of death.
Seale said it appears that the fire was started by a propane heater inside the home.
Shady Point is just north of Poteau in Le Flore County.
Mangum plane crash victims identified
MANGUM - The three victims of a twin-engine plane that crashed in southwest Oklahoma Saturday have been identified, authorities said.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Betsy Randolph said the 1964 Beechcraft Baron crashed Saturday afternoon near Mangum in Greer County. She said a witness reported the plane appeared to have engine trouble before it crashed.
The dead are: pilot Stephen Scott, 53, of Mangum; and passengers John Hall, 45, and Edi Ortega, 20, both of Altus.
Randolph said she didn't know where the flight began or was headed.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating and no immediate cause was given for the crash.
