Alex Sanz/Eyewitness News
Indianapolis - The popular and well-known forensic psychiatrist Larry Davis died on Monday when the single-engine airplane he was piloting crashed in a central Illinois field.
Davis, an instrument-rated pilot, was returning to Indiana from a business trip in Ottawa, Illinois, when the private airplane crashed around 5:30pm CST. Weather did not appear to be a factor.
"His plane, I believe, lost power," said Davis' son, Aaron. "And he tried to land in a bean field. And apparently came in a little too hot and too steep of an angle."
Aaron Davis said his father had once run out of fuel while flying. There were also reports Davis recently had problems with the airplane. The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the accident.
Davis was known as a man who chartered a path of success. Success for him, it seemed, was never far behind. He was once Chief of Psychiatry at Virginia's Langley Air Force Base. And he helped form the I.U. School of Medicine's first forensic psychiatry training program. But it was his work as an expert witness in forensics in hundreds of criminal cases that he is best known for.
"He was someone special and, and he lived life to the fullest, but he was also a remarkable psychiatrist," said friend Rick Gustafson.
"He had a very gregarious personality," said Aaron Davis. "Very much a lover of life. And he loved everyone that he met."
Davis is survived by wife Betty, son Aaron, daughter Michelle and two granddaughters.
Funeral services are scheduled for Monday at Saint Luke's United Methodist Church at 100 West 86th Street in Indianapolis.
Dr. Larry Davis
