In a horrific tragedy that no child should ever have to experience, Massachusetts high school senior Anika Groff has lost her entire immediate family all at one time.
On Saturday, April 12, neuroscientist Michael Groff and his wife, urogynecologist Joy Saini, were killed in a private jet crash alongside both of their oldest children. Their daughter, Karenna Groff, was among the casualties. She was a collegiate soccer player who played for Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and in 2022 she was named Woman of the Year by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Also among the casualties were Karenna’s boyfriend James Santoro, her brother Jared Groff, and Jared’s partner Alexia Couyutas Duartem.
As of right now, only limited information has been released about what caused the crash. It is known that prior to the crash, the pilot of the plane reached out to air traffic control at Columbia County Airport to report a slight problem. He had apparently missed his initial approach and would need to plan for a different approach.
However, air traffic controllers did not hear from the pilot again and did not receive a call of distress before the plane plummeted to the ground.
This should be a time of great excitement and celebration for Anika Groff, who recently announced that she planned to attend the University of North Carolina in the fall of 2025. Instead, it has turned into a time of unimaginable loss and heartbreak.
The Weston, Massachusetts school district, where the three Groff children went to school, is requesting that the public respect the family’s privacy at this time.
“Our role as a school community is to surround them with quiet care, compassion, and space to heal,” they said in a statement.
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