Plane crash: Cedar Park man missing

CEDAR PARK, Texas (KXAN) - Austin News has learned from a family friend that the man missing during the aftermath of Thursday's plane crash at the Eschelon building in north Austin is Vernon Hunter of Cedar Park.

Cars formed a line leading up his home outside Austin Thursday night. Friends stopped by to check on Hunter’s wife and share their condolences after an unimaginable day.

Vernon Hunter and his wife both worked as revenue officers for the Internal Revenue Service in the building struck by a plane that morning. One of their co-workers, a close family friend, stepped outside to speak with KXAN on the condition of anonymity.

“She (Hunter’s wife) can’t speak right now,” the woman said. “She just too overwhelmed by everything that’s happened.”

The woman said she and Hunter’s wife were both about 20 feet away from where the plane crashed through a second-floor window. That window overlooking Research Boulevard was part of Hunter’s office.

“He was in there,” she said. “We just heard a loud boom, then the ceiling started to fall.”

She said the lights went out, and people were screaming amid sounds of crashing glass. Some of her co-workers made it to safety by crawling out the window. She and Hunter’s wife followed the sound of someone’s voice to the exit.

“We just heard, ‘This way. Follow me. Follow my voice.’”

Both uninjured beyond minor smoke inhalation, the two women eventually learned from police that Hunter was the only person they could not find. As crews discovered two bodies within the rubble, she said they knew one of those must be Hunter.

“It’s hard to believe,” the woman continued. “First we go through this, then we have to deal with something so sad.”

Hunter was also a group leader among the IRS agents in the building. The woman, who did not recall Hunter’s age, said he has six grown children. The family is now waiting for word from police concerning the identification of the two bodies.

“He loved his wife dearly,” she added. “There was nobody like him. One of the kindest people I’ve ever met.”