The Nine Lives Lost in the Greenacres Learjet Crash

GREENACRES, Fla. — Relatives and employers have now named all nine people killed Sunday when a Learjet 60 plunged into a Palm Beach County roadway: a Texas technology entrepreneur, his wife and their two small children; the children's nanny; two friends who owned a hotel in Honduras; and the jet's two pilots, one of them a 20-year-old from Boca Raton.

Authorities have not yet formally confirmed the identities. The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's Office has said it is working to identify everyone aboard, a process county officials describe as lengthy because it depends on DNA.

The names emerged over Monday and into Monday night through a joint statement from the families of the seven passengers, posted on Facebook by Anthony Robinson, a brother of victim Adam Robinson; through a statement from the captain's former employer; and through the co-pilot's relatives. The families said their hearts were also with the families of the pilots, thanked first responders and the Palm Beach County community, and asked for privacy.

THE FAMILY

Adam Robinson, whose age was reported as 44 by some news outlets and 45 by others, was the founder and chief executive of the software companies Retention.com and RB2B, which help businesses identify visitors to their websites. He was also chief executive of a third company, Moltsets, according to his LinkedIn profile, and had co-founded the email marketing platform Robly, The Associated Press reported. Retention.com was based in Austin, where Robinson was well known in the tech community.

"Adam was part of the entrepreneurial fabric of Austin," said Thom Singer, chief executive of the Austin Technology Council. Robinson's companies called him "a friend, a mentor and a bold, outspoken leader who lived life to the fullest" in a statement that said their immediate focus was supporting employees and the family.

Robinson grew up in Houston and played basketball at Memorial High School, according to the Houston Chronicle. He graduated from Rice University in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in economics, Spanish and managerial studies and earned two varsity letters on the men's basketball team, the university said. His former Rice coach, Willis Wilson, remembered him as "such an uplifting guy who was loved by his teammates and coaches."

His wife, Helen Sharp, 40, grew up in Houston, attended Episcopal High School and graduated from the University of Arizona in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in art history and anthropology, according to her LinkedIn profile and a tribute from her ceramics studio. She lived for several years in Argentina, where she met Robinson. She founded the public relations agency Influential PR in Austin and was its chief executive. In September, she announced that the family was making Aspen, Colorado, its permanent home after a trial period, as she focused on a new ceramics company.

Robinson told the ProfitLed podcast not long ago that he loved seeing his children in the morning and the evening and living in what he called his dream place. "And my wife is super happy because she can be a full-time artist," he said, according to the AP.

The couple's children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2, were "the light of their lives," the families said. The statement said Sharp's happiest place was next to her husband and children, along with the family dog, Bonnie, who was "always by her side (and usually in her lap)." "Helen and Adam were the love affair that will last forever," it said. TMZ, citing unnamed sources, reported that the family was headed to the Bahamas for about a week to celebrate Robinson's birthday.

Among their survivors are Robinson's brother, Anthony Robinson, and Sharp's father, Dudley Sharp, 70. "We had a daughter, her husband and two grandchildren on the plane," Dudley Sharp told The Palm Beach Post. Other survivors have not been publicly named.

THE FRIENDS AND THE NANNY

Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, a couple, owned Arca Roatán Boutique Hotel, a beachfront hotel at West Bay on the Honduran island of Roatán that opened in late 2023, according to Honduran news reports and TMZ. Reed, who earned a nursing degree from the University of Central Oklahoma, worked as a critical care nurse from 2015 to 2023, according to an online profile cited by the Houston Chronicle. Honduran outlets reported that Reed divided time between Austin and Roatán.

A Roatán travel blogger who profiled the owners wrote that they met in 2019 in a hostel in Peru. The families said Reed and Fehr "were full of joy and adventure" and "loved their people fiercely, fully and without hesitation." The couple were close friends of the Robinsons. "From the moment they met, they were all in on each other and the life they were building," the statement said.

Anita Maria Cetina cared for Emma and Charlie. The families said she "cared for Emma and Charlie with tenderness and devotion, and she was truly part of the family," and that she "showed us a legacy of unconditional love and devotion." Few other details about her background have been made public.

The families of Reed, Fehr and Cetina were among those that signed the joint statement. Their individual survivors have not been named in public reports.

THE PILOTS

The captain, Jeff Gregory, 55, lived in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, according to FAA records cited by Fox 29 in Philadelphia. East Coast Jets, an Allentown charter company where he worked briefly in 2016 and 2017, confirmed his death. "Our prayers go out to Jeff's family, his fellow crew member, the passengers, and everyone affected by this heartbreaking tragedy," the company said.

Gregory grew up in Limerick, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and attended Limerick Chapel, which is working with his family on funeral arrangements. A lifelong friend and former neighbor, David Peters, told The U.S. Sun that Gregory was "very diligent and dependable" and wanted to be a pilot from boyhood. A Facebook tribute from his extended family said he began aviation training in the 1990s. He leaves his wife, Cheryl, and their three children, according to the tribute.

The co-pilot, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, 20, was born in Florida to a Brazilian family and grew up in Boca Raton, according to CNN. She earned her private pilot's license in 2023, at 17, while a senior at West Boca Raton Community High School, through an aviation academy the Palm Beach County School District paid for. She told WPEC-TV at the time that "some people think that it's weird that I can fly planes, but I can't drive a car."

Her father, Allan Filgueiras, a pilot, taught her to fly, her family said. She began ground school in 2020, went on to train at American Flyers and, by her family's account, logged more than 1,300 flight hours. Her mother, Camila Corteleti, told The New York Times and The New York Post that Filgueiras had worked for about nine months for Upper Jets, the Fort Lauderdale charter company that operated the jet. Allan Filgueiras told NBC News that his daughter was the first officer, the second-in-command seat. FAA records show she held a commercial pilot certificate and a rating to fly the Learjet 60 as second in command but not as pilot in command.

"Flying was her biggest passion," her sister Giulia Filgueiras, 21, told NBC News. "That was her dream, to become a pilot, since she was very young." Giulia Filgueiras told The Palm Beach Post that her sister "fought until the last moment she could." Their mother described Nathalia to CNN Brasil as "a very good girl – responsible, hardworking." The family also includes her stepfather, Thiago Corteleti, and a younger sister.

According to TMZ, citing The New York Post and her stepfather, Filgueiras texted her boyfriend, also a licensed pilot, around 12:40 p.m. Eastern time: "I've got turbulence, I've got ice." Former NFL running back Joe Mixon wrote on X that he flew on the same jet with the same pilots last month and was "absolutely devastated."

THE INVESTIGATION

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the inquiry with help from the Federal Aviation Administration, outlined the flight at a news conference Monday afternoon. The Learjet left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at about 10:37 a.m. Eastern time bound for North Eleuthera in the Bahamas. At 12:47 p.m., at 35,000 feet, the crew reported light clear ice and moderate turbulence that was moving the jet about 700 feet up and down, then asked to climb to 37,000 feet. Less than 30 seconds later came a mayday call and a report of an overspeed condition. The jet struck Military Trail near 10th Avenue North at about 12:50 p.m. As of Tuesday, the NTSB's public page for the case, number ERA27MA026, still carried only the agency's initial summary.

NTSB board member Tom Chapman said investigators have "some indication that the aircraft was breaking up before impact" and that parts could be found some distance from the crash site. The debris field is about half a mile long. Records show the jet was equipped with a cockpit voice recorder, but investigators do not know whether it was still aboard. Investigator in charge Timothy Monville said recovering the major wreckage from the crater in the roadway, which has partly filled with rainwater, is the biggest obstacle and will take several days. Chapman said the inquiry will also examine "who knew what and when, what actions were taken and whether those actions were appropriate." A preliminary report is expected within 30 days, and a final report with a probable cause could take one to two years.

The NTSB said the jet was operated by Aurora Aviation, which does business as Upper Jets; KUT reported that the agency described it as an on-demand charter flight under Part 135 of the federal aviation rules. FAA records show it is registered to a Delaware company, LR60271 LLC. In a statement to USA Today, Upper Jets said it was cooperating with local, state and federal authorities and was "committed to supporting the families of all those who lost a loved one."

Outside experts have offered theories, none of them a finding. Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB and FAA investigator, told the AP that key parts of the jet's tail may have been lost in turbulence or during the dive, which could explain its "missile-like profile" as it fell. Pablo Rojas, an aviation attorney, told NBC 6 that investigators could examine the de-icing and autopilot systems. The NTSB has not said whether either played a role.

On the ground, one man driving near the scene suffered a leg injury, the NTSB said. About 600 people were displaced from 77 mobile homes near the site, county officials said, and Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores said the county "doesn't have a clue" when they can return. Military Trail remains closed, and officials have warned the closure could last weeks. The NTSB asked anyone with photos, video or audio of the crash to email witness@ntsb.gov, and asked residents who find debris not to move it.

Memorial services for the victims have not been announced. AM