UPDATED: Murrieta Pastor Confirmed Dead in Kansas Plane Crash; Pilot Also Killed

UPDATE 4:36 p.m. Oct. 18:

The 72-year-old pastor of a Murrieta-based church has been confirmed dead along with his pilot, in a Kansas plane crash, a sheriff told reporters at the scene.

Pastor Edward Dufresne, of World Harvest Church in Murrieta and Ed Dufresne Ministries, and Mitchell Morgan, 49, were aboard a small plane that exploded in the sky at about 10:15 a.m. Friday above an area south of Wichita, Kan., Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter told reporters during a live news conference that was streamed online.

According to the sheriff, Dufresne (pronounced Dufrane) and Morgan were on a trip that brought them to Wichita on Thursday. They were the two people aboard the Cessna Citation when it took off at 9:59 a.m. Friday from Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita, en route to New Braunfels Airport, which is near San Antonio, Texas.

“At 10:17 a.m. the plane disappeared off of radar. It had reached an altitude of 16,500 feet,” Easter said. “We had citizen reports at 10:18 a.m. of hearing an explosion and pieces of the plane falling out of the sky.”

Easter said deputies arrived at 95th Street South and Webb Road near Derby, Kan. to find the plane was “disintegrated...there were not a lot of large parts or anything.”

The main crash site is in a field about 300 yards from a cemetery, he said. A wing of the plane was found about a mile from there, he said.

Deputies were expected to remain on scene for several hours Friday night to comb the area looking for more crash debris, and would return Saturday if the job was not done, he said.

Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board were expected assume the investigation near Derby, which is about 20 miles southeast of the Mid-Continent Airport.

According to Dufresne’s website, he had spoken Thursday evening at Triumphant Faith Center in Wichita. Friday he was due to speak at Word & Spirit Church in Schertz, Texas, near San Antonio.

He had been in the ministry since 1971, and “since then he has traveled over 11 million air miles carrying that healing anointing to this generation,” according to his bio on Eddufresne.org.

Dufresne’s wife, Nancy Dufresne, is also a minister who traveled with her husband extensively as the couple put on crusades. She currently pastors World Harvest Church on Palomar Street.

The Federal Aviation Administration's website shows the plane was registered to an address in Bear Creek, an upscale, gated community on a golf course in northwestern Murrieta.

In addition to his wife, Dufresne leaves behind five children: Carole De La Fuente, Suzie Penir, Stephanie Taylor, Stephen Dufresne and Grant Dufresne, according to a family member. He is also survived by 17 grandchildren, and was the brother of Patty Dufresne, Carole Cloephil and Dan Dufresne.

This is a developing story. Patch will provide updates as more information is gathered.

ORIGINAL POST 12:19 p.m. Oct. 18:

A Kansas news organization is reporting that there are no survivors in the crash Friday of a small plane registered to a Murrieta-based Christian ministry.

The plane, a 1975 Cessna 500 Citation 1—registered to Dufresne Inc. based at World Harvest Church in Murrieta—crashed at about 10:15 a.m. Friday in a field near Derby, Kan., which is south of Wichita, KAKE.com is reporting.

KAKE reports that Dr. Edward Dufresne of Dufresne, Inc. is a traveling minister whose website itinerary states he spoke Thursday night in Wichita and was due to speak Friday in Schertz, Tex.

A sheriff's official has said there are no survivors of the crash and that it was unclear how many people were aboard, the news organization is reporting.

This is a developing story. More information will be posted as it becomes available.