Brett James' wife, Melody Carole, and his stepdaughter, Meryl Maxwell Wilson, were both killed in the North Carolina plane crash that also claimed the country music songwriter's life. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed on Friday, September 19, that all three died when their single-engine Cirrus SR22T plane crashed into a field near Iotla Valley Elementary School in Franklin, North Carolina, on Thursday, September 18, according to The New York Times.