Nation in brief: No malfunction found on copter

GEORGETOWN, S.C. – Nothing indicates that a medical helicopter malfunctioned before it crashed in coastal South Carolina, killing all three crew members on board, a federal official said Sunday.

National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said all major portions of the aircraft were accounted for, and that none of those parts showed anything was wrong before it went down Friday night.

The helicopter had just dropped off a patient at a hospital in Charleston when it crashed about 11:30 p.m., said Peter Knudson, an NTSB spokesman.

Omniflight, a Texas-based company which operated the helicopter, identified the crew members killed as pilot Patrick Walters, 45, of Murrells Inlet; flight nurse Diana Conner, 42, of Florence; and paramedic Randolph Claxton Dove, 39, of Bladenboro, N.C.

Police believe body is Petrillo’s

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. – Police say they believe they’ve recovered the body of a woman whose suicidal jump from a suburban New York City bridge echoed her stepfather’s plunge from it 15 years ago after a grisly family murder.

State Police Sgt. Todd Parent said the body found Sunday in the Hudson River is believed to be that of Anne Morell Petrillo.

Petrillo was the daughter of slain newspaper heiress Anne Scripps Douglas. Her stepfather, Scott Douglas, leapt to his death from the bridge in 1994 after killing her mother with a claw hammer.