US man kills child, self, but misses mother-in-law

CINCINNATI, Mar 7 (Reuters) An Indiana pilot killed himself and his 8-year-old daughter when he crashed a small plane into the home of his former mother-in-law in what police are calling a likely murder-suicide.

Moments after the crash, the girl's mother reported her daughter missing and said she believed her ex-husband, Eric Johnson, had abducted her, Indiana State Police said in a statement issued late on Monday.

Both Johnson, 47, and his daughter, Emily Johnson, were killed in the mid-morning crash, which occurred near Bedford, Indiana. No one in the home was injured, police said.

''State police investigators are treating this event as a homicide since indications in this ongoing investigation are that Eric Johnson deliberately crashed the plane into the house,'' police said.

The single-engine Cessna plane crashed into the side of the house where Johnson's former mother-in-law, Vivian Pace, lived.

Local media reported that Johnson shared custody of the 8-year-old with his ex-wife, Beth Johnson, and had spent the past week vacationing with his daughter.

He was supposed to drop Emily off for school Monday morning, according to the Bedford Times-Mail. When the girl did not show up, her mother went to police to report her missing.

Reuters SRS VP0502