The last thing 11-year-old Laney Perdue remembers before her plane crashed on Beaver Island this weekend was her father holding her.
That's according to a statement from her mother, Christiana Perdue.
Her husband Mike Perdue, along with Kate Leese and Adam Kendall, both of Beaver Island, all lost their lives in the plane crash.
The pilot, yet to be identified, also died in the wreck.
"We are heartbroken with the loss of my husband... He gave the best bear hugs, and I believe he grabbed our daughter and protected her. It's her last memory before the crash," Christina Perdue said.
A GoFundMe was created to help the Perdue family.
The fundraiser says the family is working on funeral arrangements.
In an interview Monday morning, the Coast Guard says there was a crew already up in the air nearby when the emergency beacon sent out an alert.
The crew had already been called out on a mission earlier, but they were told to stand down.
Around that time, their crews heard the emergency frequency and jumped into action to help first responders on the ground.
"I will say it's very, very rare. It's to have something like that happen, so close to where you're flying," Coast Gaurd Public Information Officer Lt. Brandon Skelly said.
"Normally, when you're getting a call, it's gonna be something like we cover a whole area all the way from Superior down to Chicago. So the fact that you're out flying in the area right where something happened, I'd say it's very rare."
The investigation is now in the hands of federal investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board.
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