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Friends, Family Mourn Baltimore Couple Killed In Small Plane Crash

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Friends and family are remembering a Baltimore teacher and her husband who were killed instantly when her father's plane plummeted to the ground in Florida on Christmas Eve.

Victoria Shannon-Worthington was an English teacher and Peter Worthington Jr. was a law student. This would have been their first Christmas together. The Worthingtons left their Federal Hill home on Friday for the Christmas holiday.

Neighbors describe the Worthingtons as a charming young couple that married in June.

"He made a difference. It is important because it's people like him that spread the cheer and make the difference," said family friend Kathryn Gates-Skipper.

Victoria's father, Lakeland attorney John Shannon, spoke about his daughters in a campaign ad when he ran for a state representative seat in Florida three years ago.

Victoria, a 4th grade teacher at the Baltimore International Academy Elementary/Middle School, wrote that she hoped to inspire a love of learning and said "the students are the center—the heart and soul— of the classroom."

In addition to working on a law degree at the University of Maryland, Peter did video production, making a video for his alma mater, McDonogh School in Baltimore County.

The local sheriff who responded to the crash knew the family well. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the fog on Christmas Eve was too thick for the plane to safely take off.

"I asked my pilot, who is by the way our senior pilot, 'Should anyone have been taking off in this fog?' They said, 'No sir. absolutely not,'" Judd said. "Certainly I wish we could rewind this, and if we could, I would wrestle him to the floor to keep him from getting in that airplane."

Visibility was less than one quart of a mile. The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the cause of the crash.

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