Heartbroken dad discovers final video wife and daughter took in ill-fated plane that crashed near DC

WASHINGTON, DC: Andrey Ter is living a nightmare he never imagined. Just days ago, he was a husband and father of two. Now, he is left grieving the sudden loss of his wife Olesya Taylor, 50, and youngest daughter Olivia Ter, 12 — both of whom were among the 67 victims of the devastating plane crash near Washington, DC.

The tragedy unfolded on January 29 when American Airlines Flight 5342 collided mid-air with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport. Andrey, who had gone to the airport to pick up his family, had no idea his life would never be the same.

Andrey and Olesya built a life together that was shattered by tragedy

Andrey, 51, has known hardship before. Being an Armenian refugee, he fled Azerbaijan to Ukraine in the 1980s at just 16 years old. “It left a scar on my heart,” he told People.

For 20 years, he had nightmares about being a refugee. Now, he has a "new nightmare" to deal with. "My family is gone," he said.

He and Olesya met in the early 2000s while working together and later married in April 2007. They built a life together in Virginia, raising their two daughters — Olivia and 14-year-old Anne Valerie, known affectionately as AV.

Olesya — a Ukrainian native — was a dedicated pediatrician. Though she had trained in St Petersburg, Russia, she was working as a medical assistant in Falls Church while studying to obtain certification to practice medicine in the US.

Olesya was "a very beautiful woman,” Andrey recalled. “A really kind and generous person. I was extremely lucky to have someone special like her in my life.”

Olesya's dedication to her daughter’s Olympic dreams

Olesya was the kind of mother who dedicated herself entirely to her children’s passions. “She took every minute of her time to make sure they had opportunities,” Andrey remembered. That devotion was especially evident in Olivia, a fiercely driven and athletic young girl.

“If she set something for herself, she will do anything to get to that goal,” Andrey said proudly. Olivia’s biggest dream was the Olympics. The talented figure skater had recently skyrocketed from being ranked 30th to finishing fourth in the Eastern Division of US figure skating for her age group.

“She would have this whole plan in her head [of] what she needs to do and when the next Olympiad is going to be that she can qualify for,” Andrey explained. “That's the thing that she dreamt of.”

Even her coach — Russian Olympic gold medalist Ilia Kulik — saw immense potential in her, telling Olivia’s parents she would be ready to compete nationally within a few years.

“We lost a very talented ice skater, maybe a future champion,” Andrey told People, adding, “She was a really good ice skater with a very bright potential. And she really wanted to be, and that's all she wanted to do.”

A final conversation

Before boarding their ill-fated flight, Olesya and Olivia had visited the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum. Andrey vividly remembers his last conversation with his wife, where she described how excited Olivia was during the visit.

“My wife [was] talking with me about them being in [the] museum and Olivia being excited,” Andrey said. His last tangible memory of them is a video — backed up to the cloud from Olesya’s phone — showing them taking off from Wichita.

Andrey was already at the airport garage when he received his wife’s final message: “We are landing.” That text came at 8:47 pm.

At 8:48 pm, the plane crashed.

Panic set in when his wife and daughter didn’t respond to his calls. He called Anne Valerie — who hadn’t heard from them either but had received a text from her mother moments earlier — asking if she was coming to pick them up. Then the sirens came. Andrey saw emergency vehicles rushing past. News alerts began flooding in about a small plane crash at Reagan.

Clinging to hope, he rushed inside the airport and was desperate for answers. Instead, all he found was chaos. No one at the help desk had information and the airport was in “disarray.”

As more details emerged, denial set in. “Yes, it’s cold. Yes, it’s dark. It’s shallow water,” he told himself, thinking they probably got out and swam. “It’s only 8 feet of water – and now it’s cold, but it’s close to the airport. They could have easily swam.”

His daughter tried to reassure him: “Dad, don’t worry. You know how well Mom and Olivia swim. They’re probably just sitting on the bank of the river.”

But then came the call from the police confirming his worst fears. Both Olesya and Olivia were gone.

Andrey's heartbreak after losing his wife and daughter

At that moment, shock overtook Andrey. “Your wife is gone, and you don’t even want to think about what happened to your daughter,” he said. His eldest daughter eventually told him, “It’s done. And there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Now, Andrey avoids news updates and doesn’t follow the investigation. “I’m tired of hearing about it,” he admitted. “I was probably the happiest man on Earth,” he continued. “I had everything I needed, everything I wanted. And then God took the two dearest things I had away from me. Half of me is gone, and it’s no longer there."

He subsequently wondered, “Why me, God? Are you punishing me? And then I realized it’s 67 – God is punishing more than me.”

As he struggles to move forward, he wishes he had done more for Olesya and Olivia. “All we can do now is make sure they’re remembered,” he told People. “They’re always in our hearts.”

A GoFundMe set up in their memory has already raised over $64,000 of its $100,000 goal at the time of publication.