NEPTUNE, N.J. (1010 WINS)  -- The only person aboard a small homebuilt plane that crashed into the shallow waters of the Shark River this weekend was killed, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman said Sunday night.

The four-seater RV-7 aircraft was registered to Richard Jahns of Point Pleasant Beach, FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac said, but she stressed that it was not known if he was piloting the plane when it went down just before 7 p.m. Saturday.

Telephone messages left at Jahns' home were not immediately returned late Sunday afternoon.

The victim's body had not been recovered as of 6 p.m. Sunday, and state police planned to resume their search around daybreak on Monday.

Sgt. Stephen Jones, a state police spokesman, said divers were in the water for most of the day Sunday, looking for possible victims and debris that might help them identify the plane. However, their recovery efforts were hampered because much of the plane was buried under mud, and some debris was scattered over a 75-foot-wide area.

The plane had apparently taken off from Monmouth Executive Airport in Wall Township on Saturday, but it was not clear how long it was in the air before the crash occurred. Authorities said the pilot did not file a flight plan, though one is not required for small aircraft.

David Mertz, a Neptune resident who witnessed the crash, told The Asbury Park Press that there seemed to be something wrong with the plane before it crashed.

``It was loud; it sounded like a car without a muffler,'' Mertz said.

Greg Cross, who was walking his dog along the river just before the crash, told The Star-Ledger of Newark that the pilot ``came in over the river and then did a perpendicular dive right into the water.''

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