A husband killed himself by flying a plane into his own home hours after being arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife.

Duane Youd, 47, died in a ball of flames after slamming the light aircraft into his home in Payson Canyon, Ut., in the early hours of Monday.

Fox 13 reported that Youd’s wife, who has not been named, and their son were in the property at the time of the smash, although both escaped unharmed.

A snap of the blaze at Duane Youd’s home in Payson, Utah after he flew his own plane into it hours after being arrested on suspicion of assaulting his wife (Picture: Fox 13)

Firefighters brought the blaze under control. The tail of the wrecked plane is the only part of the aircraft that survived the explosive impact (Picture: Fox 13)

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Photos taken Monday show the two story home badly damaged by the impact of the plane and subsequent fire that ignited.


Sgt. Noemi Sandoval from Payson PD said Youd was arrested around seven hours before the crash, on suspicion of assaulting his wife.



He was subsequently bailed, and travled to Spanish Fork Airport, where he boarded his personal planeon the apparent suicide mission.

She added that police had previously been called to deal with similar incidents at the property.

Duane Youd was arrested on suspicion of battering his wife hours before Monday’s crash. Police said they had been called out on previous occasions over similar claims (Picture: Payson PD)

Sgt. Sandoval said: ‘There were two individuals in the home at the time that the plane went in.

‘They were able to get out of the home without any injuries.

‘Obviously they were very shook up over what had happened but they weren’t physically injured.’

She added: ‘There was a significant fireball, so there’s not a whole lot left of the plane itself.’