A family of four — including two teenagers and their high-profile, interior-designer mother who worked on Trump World Tower in New York — were identified Monday as victims of the recent Dallas plane crash that killed 10.
Ornella Ellard was among those killed when a private twin-engine Beechcraft aircraft crashed into an airplane hanger at a Dallas’ Addison Airport Sunday morning — along with her daughter Alice Maritato, 15, and son Dylan Maritato, 13, as well as her husband, Brian Ellard, NBC5 reported, citing a letter from the daughter’s high school.
The note to families from John Paul II High School in Plano said Alice was set to graduate in 2022 and that her brother would have completed eighth grade at All Saints Catholic School in 2020.
The students are survived by their father, Michele Maritato, the letter said.
Their stepdad, 52-year-old businessman Brian, co-owned a chic, local Italian restaurant called Mille Lire and worked for his parent’s insurance company.
Their mom was an architect and interior designer who worked on apartments at the Trump-branded Midtown condo building and the 5-star hotel Essex House before moving to Dallas in 2007, according a bio on her website.
The couple were photographed for a 2017 Boat International article on Brian’s mother’s yacht, the “Do It Now,” which Ornella helped to decorate.
Among the other victims identified were Plano couple Steve Thelen, 58, and his wife Gina Thelen, 57.
Steve, a managing director of real estate company JLL, was dubbed “king of the ‘burbs,” in a 2014 profile for BisNow, for his ability to land deals.
The Thelen’s son and daughter were not on the plane, said a statement from JLL.
Another victim was identified as 27-year-old Matthew Palmer.
Authorities said there were two flight crew members and eight passengers on the doomed flight. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.