Federal investigators say the Learjet 60 that crashed in Greenacres, Florida, on November 1 may have started breaking apart before it ever hit the ground. The NTSB says the wreckage is scattered across an area roughly half a mile by four-tenths of a mile, covering ball fields, businesses, and homes. The charter flight from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas carried nine people, two crew members and seven passengers, including a tech entrepreneur, his wife, and their two young children, ages 4 and 2. All nine were killed when the jet slammed into the ground near Military Trail in a high-speed, near-vertical nosedive.

Earlier air traffic control audio has made the final moments even more chilling. The crew reported light icing and moderate turbulence at 35,000 feet, declared a mayday, and the aircraft was descending at rates above 20,000 feet per minute. The whole sequence unfolded within minutes, which is why investigators are looking so closely at what happened in the air. The NTSB has not named a cause, and a possible in-flight breakup is an early finding that could change as the evidence is studied. Families, neighbors, and the whole community are now waiting for answers to one painful question: what went wrong at 35,000 feet?