Tim Evans

tim.evans@indystar.com

A Martinsville woman ringing in the New Year with a skydiving excursion with friends died from her injuries after something went wrong and she crashed into the ground in a field south of Franklin Flying Field.

Teresa "Terrie" Headrick Woods, 54, died after the accident, which was reported at 11:43 a.m. Friday, said Johnson County Deputy Coroner David Lutz.

The accident occurred while Woods and some friends were skydiving from a plane based at Franklin Flying Field, a privately owned airfield about 3 miles south of Franklin, according to Johnson County Sheriff Doug Cox. He said Friday evening that it was his understanding Woods was an experienced skydiver.

The sheriff said he could not immediately confirm whether the fatal jump was connected to a commercial business, Jerry's Skydiving Circus, which is based at Franklin Flying Field. No one answered the business telephone late Friday afternoon, and no one replied to a message from The Indianapolis Star seeking comment.

Based on initial reports, Cox said, Woods was supposed to land at the airfield but hit the ground in a field south of the airport. He said it appears that Woods' parachute opened. However, Cox said, witnesses said Woods hit the ground very hard.

Woods "was in very bad shape," the sheriff said, when rescue personnel transported her from the scene to Johnson Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Woods was skydiving with two men when the accident occurred, according to a sheriff's department report. She was the last of the three to jump from the plane, which one of the men with her estimated was flying at an altitude of about 2,500 feet.

Daniel "Danny" Williams, 41, of Martinsville, told investigators he was the first to arrive at the scene where Woods landed, minutes after she struck the ground. Williams, who apparently had been on the ground while the others jumped, said he removed some of Woods' skydiving apparatus and clothing to check for vital signs and began administering chest compressions to the unconscious woman, the report said.

The first of the people with Woods to jump from the plane was Kerry Miller, 53, of Seymour. Miller told investigators he did not see the accident, the report said, because "he was dealing with his canopy not fully inflating."

Miller told investigators he had packed his own parachute "but was not sure if Terrie Woods packed her own parachute," the report said.

David Crocco, 64, of New Palestine, was the next to jump and said Woods followed him out of the plane. The report said Crocco told investigators he wears a digital video camera when he jumps and thinks he captured the incident "up until impact."

The report does not say what the video showed or might have revealed about the accident.

Jeremy Daeger, 39, of Greenwood, who also was scheduled to jump with the group, told investigators he was on the plane during the entire incident. When pilot Greg Woods banked the plane "to verify the three skydivers had open chutes," the report said, Daeger said "he saw Terrie's white reserve chute (secondary) open and inflated."

The Federal Aviation Administration was notified of the accident.

Woods was a registered nurse at St. Vincent Women's Hospital, according to her LinkedIn profile. She said the job involved "caring for babies with special needs at the Newborn Intensive Care Unit." The profiles noted her interests included skydiving, physical fitness and bicycling.

On her Facebook page — which features a background photograph of the skydiving Woods and a friend soaring above a bed of clouds — friends left heartfelt tributes calling Woods a caring friend, co-worker and nurse. One friend wrote, "I had such a fun time limboing and laughing with you" on New Year's Eve.

Woods' profile says she had been married to Larry Woods since March 21, 1981.

Woods is at least the third skydiver to be killed in an accident at Franklin Flying Field.

Experienced skydiver Donald Hauck, 50, of Greenfield, was killed May 18, 2014, when he made a maneuver about 100 feet from the ground and his parachute failed. It was the 103rd parachute jump for Hauck, who was parachuting from a plane operated by Jerry's Skydiving Circus.

Gary Zeigler, 56, of Columbus, another experienced skydiver and an Air Force veteran, was killed March 8, 1997, when he crashed to the ground beside a runway at Franklin Flying Field after his harness detached from his parachute when he was about 300 feet from the ground.

Call Star reporter Tim Evans at (317) 444-6204. Follow him on Twitter: @starwatchtim.

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