Four bodies were recovered from the wreckage of a plane that crashed Sunday evening in the Everglades after leaving Gainesville.
A crew found two men, a woman and a young male, according to a Broward Sheriff's Office release.
Authorities have not released the victims' names, but friends and family identified them as Bruce Barber, of Sea Ranch Lakes, Fla.; his wife, Karen; their 14-year-old son, Payton; and family friend Phillip Marsh, of Ft. Lauderdale.
A private plane carrying four passengers crashed into the Everglades Sunday evening in route from Gainesville to Fort Lauderdale. Because the crash occurred in a remote location in the Everglades, the rescue crews had trouble accessing the site. (Map by Hunter Sizemore / Alligator Staff)
The group was in town for the UF football game against the Tennessee.
Shirley Barber, Bruce's mother, said the family was "definitely" on board the aircraft, according to the Associated Press. Dave Smith, who roomed with Marsh in Gainesville over the weekend, said Marsh was the fourth passenger.
Chloe Barber, the couple's 9-year-old daughter, stayed in South Florida with family friends.
Both husband and wife were UF graduates who met as undergraduate students. Bruce, 46, was a Bull Gator-a donor who contributes at least $14,000 per year to the Gator Boosters.
In an interview with The Gainesville Sun in August 2008, Barber said he bought the orange-and-blue-striped plane to fly to games.
The family stayed at the Magnolia Plantation Bed and Breakfast Inn for every home game since the mid-1990s, according to inn owner Joe Montalto. He knew the Barbers before their children were born and considered them extended family, he said.
"The kids grew up here. It was kind of like a family reunion every fall," Montalto said. "We grew very attached to them."
He added that he is concerned for Chloe.
"She has some of the best characteristics of the whole family," he said. "She is alive for a reason."
Montalto said he never met a bigger Gators fan than Bruce Barber. After each game, they would have a "debriefing session," discussing the game for three or four hours.
Smith met Marsh through a mutual friend during their undergraduate years at UF. He said Marsh asked to fly with the Barbers so he would not have to make the drive alone.
"Gregarious does not even begin to describe [him]," Smith said. "He was the most outgoing, entertaining, bright person I knew."
Though he didn't have any kids of his own, Marsh was devoted to his family, especially his many siblings and their children, Smith said. Marsh was also a proud Gator.
"Name the game, and he went to it," Smith said.
The plane crashed before 6 p.m. Sunday west of U.S. 27 near the Broward-Palm Beach county line, according to the release.
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the plane was registered to Bull Gator Air Inc., which Bruce Barber owned.
Neither the FAA nor the National Transportation Safety Board would comment on the crash's cause. An NTSB spokesman said investigators will be on the scene Wednesday, and a report should be released next week.
"They are going to be missed by everyone involved with them," Montalto said. "[They] need to be remembered not just as Gator fans but also as a special family."
