LAWRENCEVILLE, Ill. (AP) — An Indiana judge killed in a small plane crash in southeastern Illinois is being remembered by colleagues as a problem-solver who helped defendants start new lives.

The plane crashed Saturday in southeastern Illinois and killed the pilot, Ryan Johanningsmeier. He was a judge in Indiana’s Knox County. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta Rush says in a statement that Johanningsmeier helped defendants “with a new path in life allowing those most in need of restorative justice to work for a better tomorrow.”