TV Sports Reporter & Daughter-In-Law Of LSU Coach, 30, Dies In Plane Crash
Dec. 28 2019, Updated 11:04 p.m. ET
TV sports reporter Carley McCord was one of five victims killed in a plane crash near the Lafayette Regional Airport in Lafayette, Louisiana, on Saturday, Dec. 28, according to the Associated Press.
She was 30.
McCord was a freelance sideline and sports reporter for various networks, including Cox Sports Television, ESPN3 and WDSU-TV.
McCord's husband, Steven Ensminger Jr., confirmed her death.
Ensminger Jr. is the son of Steve Ensminger, who is the offensive coordinator for the LSU football team.
The plane was expected to arrive in Atlanta, where McCord was set to attend the Peach Bowl college football playoff game between Louisiana State University and Oklahoma with friends, Ensminger Jr. told the AP.
But moments after taking off at about 9:20 a.m. the private plane crashed in a parking lot near a Walmart and U.S. Post Office building, about a mile away from the airport.
On Saturday afternoon, officials released the names of those who were killed. In addition to McCord, Pilot Ian Biggs, 51, Robert Crisp II, 59; Gretchen Vincent, 51, and Micahel Vincent, 15, perished in the plane crash.
Lafayette Fire Chief Robert Benoit also said that a lone surviving passenger had been taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Three other people, including two U.S. postal employees, who were on the ground at the time of the crash, suffered injuries, Lafayette Fire Department spokesman Alton Trahan said.
Two fires caused by the crash were quickly extinguished on the ground.
McCord's employer, WDSU, also confirmed the news of McCord's tragic death. "It is with broken hearts that we share that WDSU lost a beloved member of our team today. Our hearts are with the McCord and Ensminger families at this time," the news outlet tweeted.
WDSU President and General Manager, Joel Vilmenay, said in a statement, "We are devastated by the loss of such an amazing talent and valued member of our WDSU family. Carley's passion for sports journalism and her deep knowledge of Louisiana sports, from high school to the professional ranks, made her an exceptional journalist. As we reflect on her impressive body of work, we offer our deepest condolences to her family."
McCord was born and raised in Baton Rouge, and was a graduate of Northwestern State University and Louisiana State University, WDSU reported.
McCord got her first broadcast job in Cleveland working as an in-house reporter for the Cleveland Browns.
A few months later, McCord was hired by CBS Radio Cleveland to be a morning show cast-member for a morning show on a Hot AC formatted station.
After two years in Cleveland, Carley moved back to Baton Rouge to pursue her broadcast career in her hometown.
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McCord is the second TV sports reporter to suffer an untimely death over the holiday season.
Just days ago, Edward Aschoff, an ESPN on-air college football reporter, died on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, which also was his 34th birthday, the network sadly announced.
Aschoff had been battling pneumonia.
Earlier this year, another Louisiana journalist, news anchor Nancy Parker, who had been working on a story, died in a plane crash.
