Luxury Broker Adina Azarian and Nanny Evadnie Smith Among 4 Killed in Virginia Plane Crash

Four people, including a luxury real estate broker and her 2-year-old daughter, died on Sunday when their private jet crashed into a mountain in rural Virginia. The Cessna Citation lost contact with air traffic controllers before flying directly over Washington, prompting military fighter jets to launch and set off a sonic boom around the capital region.

As federal investigators continue to piece together what happened, new details are emerging about the people who lost their lives in this tragedy that has left friends and family reeling from the Hamptons to South Florida.

Adina Azarian was well known in New York’s real estate circles as a luxury broker whose portfolio of exclusive listings were the envy of colleagues. She conceived her daughter during the pandemic then hired Evadnie Smith as a live-in nanny in her East Hampton home. Known to the family as “Nanny V,” Smith traveled frequently with them serving as a calming counterweight to Azarian’s occupation of high-stress deal-making.

Prior to the crash, Azarian, Aria (her daughter), and Smith were visiting Azarian's adoptive parents John and Barbara Rumpel in North Carolina. The couple adopted Adina when she was 40 years old after growing close due to Adina reminding them of their deceased daughter Victoria who had died at age 19 while scuba diving.

The pilot identified by John Rumpel is Jeff Hefner who worked for him full-time as both pilot and mechanic.

Officials say that within minutes of taking off from Tennessee en route Long Island near its destination point; Hefner stopped responding to air traffic control instructions leading experts speculating loss pressurization inside cabin being the leading theory for the crash.

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