Four Connecticut residents, including a teenager taking flying lessons, were killed in a plane crash in Vermont over the weekend, authorities said.

The four-seat, single-engine Piper aircraft departed from Windham Airport in Connecticut at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday for a short flight to Ferrisburgh where those onboard stopped for a brunch reservation at Basin Hill, according to Vermont State Police.

The party of four left the restaurant shortly after noon to fly back to Connecticut, leaving the Basin Harbor Airport around 12:15 p.m.

While no reports were received about an aircraft in distress or plane crash, the plane failed to return back to Windham and relatives of the occupants reported the situation to the Connecticut State Police and the Middletown, Connecticut Police Department, police said.

Working with the Federal Aviation Administration, authorities used cellphone data to track down the plane’s location near the airstrip in Vermont.

Using a drone, Vermont state police and local agencies located the wreckage in a wooded area east of the Basin Airport around 12:20 a.m. on Monday.

First responders arrived at the scene and pronounced all four on board dead.

They were identified on Monday as Paul Pelletier, 55, of Columbia; Frank Rodriguez, 88, of Lebanon; Susan Van Ness, 51; and her daughter Delilah Van Ness, 15, both of Middletown.

Delilah Van Ness, a sophomore at Middletown High School, was taking flight lessons with Pelletier, the school’s aviation technology teacher.

It’s not clear who was piloting the aircraft when it crashed.

“This unimaginable loss has left a void in our hearts and our community,” Dr. Alberto Vázquez Matos, Superintendent of Middletown Public Schools, said in a statement. 

“Paul, Delilah, and Susan were special individuals whose absence is already being felt throughout our district and city,” he added.

The high school was closed on Tuesday to let the school community grieve. School officials said counseling will be available to students and faculty when they return.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the FAA and National Transit Safety Board.

The bodies of the victims were brought to the medical examiner’s office in Burlington, where autopsies will be conducted to determine the cause of death.

East Corinth, Vermont — Last weekend, Beetlejuice fans returned to Winter River.

The release of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice last week has renewed excitement about the Tim Burton franchise. According to Rotten Tomatoes, reviews for the film were mostly positive, with 77% of critics and 82% of audience members giving positive reviews. However, the town the movies are based in, Winter River, Connecticut, is not real. Beetlejuice 1 & 2 were filmed in a small Vermont town, and many of the props remain.

As they did in the 1980s, Tim Burton and his film crew travelled to East Corinth to film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. They recreated the sets in the town, which resulted in part of the set being stolen. According to NBC 5, the new owner of Miss Shannon’s School for Girls has started a GoFundMe to help make it a community space with a tavern downstairs and an auditorium upstairs. That’s not the only place in town that features Beetlejuice sets.

Northeast Slopes is chalked full of interesting tidbits. First opened in 1936, it’s home to the oldest continuously operating ski tow in the United States. In addition, the ski area is home to a few pieces of cinematic history. The covered bridge used in the movie Beetlejuice was separated and now covers the vehicles that power the big and small rope tows. For the Beetlejuice sequel, their covered bridge has also found a home at Northeast Slopes, as it will host events, like a music festival this past August.

The Bridge Weekly Sho-Case did a great article about the Beetlejuice connections at Northeast Slopes, which you can read by clicking on the photo below.

Recent years have been trickier for the Vermont ski hill, with a lack of snowfall leading to minimal operating days. Northeast Slopes doesn’t have snowmaking, so they rely on natural snowfall to open. Let’s hope Northeast Slopes see significant snowfall next ski season, as the locals deserve more operating days.

Plus, I want to go up there to shred at this historic ski hill and scream out Beetlejuice three times to see what happens.

Image/Video Credits: Northeast Slopes, NBC 5, Bridge Weekly Sho-Case (Shauna Kimball)

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CHARLOTTE, Vt. — The co-founder and former owner of Seven Stars Bakery, an iconic and unionized coffee cafe and bakery, is returning to Rhode Island.

Jim Williams, who sold the company in 2018, went north to Vermont to open Backdoor Bread in Charlotte, Vt., where he sells naturally leavened bread once a week. It’s produced with grain from small, organic farms throughout the northeast and milled onsite. But this month, Williams announced he made the difficult decision to close Backdoor and move back to Providence.

“As good as this chapter has been, Providence is home,” said Williams. Backdoor will serve its last bread on Friday, Sept. 13.

Williams and his wife, Lynn, opened their first Seven Stars Bakery in 2001 in a converted gas station on Hope Street on the East Side of Providence. They opened their second location in 2007 on Broadway on the West Side of Providence. Today, Seven Stars has other locations in Providence as well as cafés in Cranston, East Greenwich, and the Rumford neighborhood in East Providence.

”We needed separation from Seven Stars Bakery after selling. We wanted to go somewhere growing wheat and could have gone anywhere in the country, but we’ve always been drawn to Vermont,” said Williams on why he opened Backdoor after selling Seven Stars. “It was an easy choice to come, and a difficult decision to leave.

“I just wanted somewhere I could supply bread to my community. No more, no less. It’s been perfect,” added Williams.

When Backdoor Bread closes, it will be the first time in more than 30 years that Williams won’t have his own bakery to walk into. He’s even already sold his equipment, which he started using at Backdoor just five years ago.

He has ideas for what he could do next: “Global pop-ups? Help integrating more whole grains into your products? Mostly, I’d like to come hang out in your bakery, drink coffee and watch you work,” he said in his announcement.

It’s not yet clear if Williams will open a business in Rhode Island down the road.

“I don’t have any plans at the moment, but who knows,” Williams told me. “Apparently, Rhode Island now has a cottage food law, so that could be an option.”

In Rhode Island, cottage food laws allow chefs to sell baked goods online, at events and farmers markets, from their homes, and from roadside stands.

“I don’t want the added expense of building another bakery as I slow down,” said Williams.

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This story first appeared in The Food Club, a free weekly email newsletter about Rhode Island food and dining. Already a member of the club? Check your inbox for more news, recipes, and features in the latest newsletter. Not a member yet? If you’d like to receive it via e-mail each Thursday, you can sign up here.

Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.