Seven people are presumed to have died in Saturday’s crash of a small jet into a Tennessee lake, including Remnant Fellowship Church founder and Christian diet guru Gwen Shamblin Lara, officials said.
The Cessna 501 was carrying seven people when it crashed into Percy Priest Lake in Smyrna, a community near Nashville, shortly after taking off from the Smyrna airport, officials said.
On board were Lara; her husband, William J. Lara; her son-in-law, Brandon Hannah; and married couples Jennifer and David Martin, and Jessica and Jonathan Walters, a spokesperson for the Rutherford County government said in a news release.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash.
In a statement sent to CNN, Remnant Fellowship Church paid tribute to those on board the plane.
“The seven Remnant Fellowship leaders lost May 29, 2021 were some of the finest and most loving people that you would ever come across. During this horrible tragedy, our church would greatly appreciate prayers,” the church said.
Gwen Shamblin Lara was the founder and spiritual leader of Remnant Fellowship Church in Brentwood, south of Nashville. Her husband, who went by Joe Lara, was an actor best known for playing the lead role in the TV series “Tarzan: The Epic Adventures,” which ran from 1996 to 1997.
A registered dietician, Gwen Shamblin Lara created the Weigh Down Diet, which encouraged dieters to strengthen their faith in God to lose weight. In 1998, Lara told CNN’s Larry King that she believed God had led her to become a dietician.
Just awful. I met these people in Nashville in 2015 and am still in shock. RIP.