Almond farmer Bill Vann and his wife Susie Vann are two of the four people killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
Family publicist John Segale confirmed the news in a press release. Two others, unidentified friends also died in the Colusa County crash. Colusa is located about 65 miles northwest of Sacramento. According to KCRA, Bill partnered with his brother Garnett Vann in 1973 to farm 40 acres of wheat and the business later expanded to almonds, walnuts and pistachios. The company now farms more than 17,000 acres in the Sacramento Valley, contracts with more than 100 growers and employs more than 200 people around the region, according to the family.
The helicopter crashed Sunday around 1:15 p.m. in a field near Highway 45 at Reservation Road, right by the Sacramento River. The Federal Aviation Administration said the helicopter was a Robinson R66. Deputies and Sacramento River Fire personnel found the passengers still inside the helicopter and declared all four dead at the scene, the sheriff's office said.