Federal investigators are trying to determine why a small, private airplane crashed into a field in central Mississippi and killed the only person found aboard.

Scott County Sheriff Mike Lee tells WLBT-TV that the crash happened about midnight Friday near the town of Lake. It killed 53-year-old Walter Stanford of Ackerman, Mississippi.

Lee says people living in the area heard the crash Friday night, but did not know what it was.

The two-seat plane was found Saturday morning, and Stanford was the only person inside. His body has been taken to the state Crime Lab for an autopsy.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have sent investigators to the crash site.