CHATHAM - A small plane that crashed into a fireball leaving three people dead Thursday was on the last leg of a trip that took the plane from Shreveport to Baton Rouge; Baton Rouge to Jackson, Mississippi and a fateful return hop from Jackson back to Shreveport.

The plane crashed in rural Jackson Parish, about 25 miles southwest of Monroe.

Eyewitnesses told The News Star, the local newspaper, the plane fell from the sky and burst into flames.

"We heard an engine getting closer and closer and then there was a loud crash and I hauled ass," a witness told the newspaper.

The News Star reported a Shreveport-area health care executive, Chris Mudd, was among the three victims of the crash. The other victims were later identified as  Wade Williams, also from the Shreveport area, and pilot Robert Gilliam, of Minden.

The four-seat, single-engine propeller-driven Cessna is owned and registered out of Bossier City.

The plane landed in Baton Rouge Wednesday morning after flying from Shreveport. It left Baton Rouge for Jackson, Mississippi Thursday morning and took off from Mississippi bound for Shreveport with a scheduled 2:50 landing in northwest Louisiana.

The plane went down around 2:11, according to the newspaper report.

Propeller ripped off plane in the deadly crash that killed at least 3 #lalege #lagov https://t.co/rbVMYSzoRo pic.twitter.com/YOlUWd967O

— Greg Hilburn (@GregHilburn1) February 6, 2020

Flight records found by WBRZ show the plane’s trips in and out of Baton Rouge but do not include passenger information. It wasn’t immediately clear what business those on the plane had in Baton Rouge.

An online business networking account shows Mudd was an executive at a health care services company which lists a Baton Rouge location on its website.

Federal investigators are expected to survey the crash scene Friday.

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