They opened a hotel together. The Learjet crash cut their love story short.

Rachael Reed spent decades visiting the island of Roatán. She traveled to the Honduras locale in her teens and quarantined there alongside her partner, Charmi Fehr, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, she and Fehr put downward roots and became owners of a boutique, idyllic hotel.

On Sunday, their affection narrative was cut short.

Reed and Fehr were traveling from Austin to the Bahamas on a personal aircraft alongside entrepreneur Adam Robinson and his family, whom they called friends. The Learjet wrecked near Greenacres and Palm Beach, Florida, slaying all nine of its occupants.

Across social media, allies and relatives mourned the couple. They commented on memories of Fehr from his younker in Paraguay and Reed from her elevated academy years in Oklahoma. Whitney Pyle worked alongside Reed whenever she was an ICU nurse. She told Business Insider that Reed showed awesome compassion to hospitalized patients and their families in their dying days.

"That's extremely difficult to see," Pyle said. "What formerly she gave to patients and their families, now her family is going through."

From caregiver to brow artist

Reed graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma alongside a flat in nursing, according to her LinkedIn. While studying, Reed was a Red Cross representative. She quickly took on nursing gigs in-state and in San Diego, her overview says.

Jason Suttles worked alongside Reed shortly following she graduated in the mid-2010s. He considered her the "perfect teammate," attentive and receptive to feedback.

"She didn't arrive out of academy acting akin she knew everything, or that item that we were doing wasn't engaging to her," Suttles told Business Insider. "In the nursing world, anywhere you don't have anybody but your teammates, it's fine to have fine ones."

Reed described her occupation as spanning "diverse industries, including genuine estate, crucial attention nursing, and aesthetics" on LinkedIn.

She owned BrowBabe, an Oklahoma City microblading studio. After they worked together as nurses, Pyle stated that she connected her mother alongside Reed for services. She "made group awareness welcomed," Pyle said.

The Oklahoma City shop is now operated by Cassandra Barnes. In an Instagram post, Barnes called Reed the "original BrowBabe," explaining that she was a companion and mentor who introduced her to the earth of makeup.

"A part of her volition continually live on in the activity I do and the enthusiasm I have for this industry," Barnes wrote.

A traveler's affection story

Reed was an adventure-seeker, hiking to waterfalls and scuba diving. In 2021, she connected her globe-trotting rear to another endeavor line: genuine estate. "Buying a home akin this is exactly what opened up my earth of traveling," she wrote on her sister's residence listing.

The brace additionally renovated and sold an Oklahoma City home in 2021, and considered marketing another one of her Oklahoma properties in June.

Travel additionally brought Reed and Fehr together. In 2019, Reed was traveling solo in Peru, according to journey blogger Madison Krigbaum, who visited the property. Reed met Fehr, who was additionally visiting the South American nation from Paraguay, at a Peruvian hostel, the blogger wrote: "It was affection at archetypal sight."

The blogger wrote that Fehr would "later rotate into her fiancé." In an depiction shared by the families, the two Reed and Fehr deteriorate rings on their remaining hands.

Reed had lengthy been connected to Roatán, an isle off the northern coast of Honduras. She archetypal visited in the mid-2000s at age 15. Her mother did nonprofit activity and built a academy there, according to the journey blog. Reed stated that she has traveled to Roatán three to four times a twelvemonth always since that archetypal trip.

In November 2019, Reed and Fehr traveled to Roatán alongside their poodle, Marlie. What was initially meant to be a shorter trip extended alongside the COVID-19 pandemic. After a duration of isolation, the brace got used to isle existence and made allies alongside their neighbors. "We obtain attention of all other," she wrote at the time. "We roast bread for one another."

After months of boating, fishing, and meditating, Reed and Fehr returned to the United States following COVID-19 epidemic restrictions were lifted, according to the journey blog. They eventually divided period between the US and the island.

Reed loved Roatán deeply. In a video posted to Facebook, their companion Bryon Robbins stated that she cared for the island's children and animals alike, chasing following the motorcycle of a man who had abused a dog. They could conversation and talk, he said.

"She would create a 50-minute journey to the east end awareness akin 15 minutes," he said.

The new hoteliers

In 2023, Reed and Fehr established a new benevolent of association to the island: a 16-room hotel.

The brace co-owned Arca Boutique Hotel, a beachfront asset promising gorgeous views and Caribbean cuisine. A assessment of the inn from Wanderluxe stated that Reed was "passionate concerning her adopted second home," personally assisting guests publish massages and discover the island's finest bars and restaurants.

The inn leaned into sustainability; it was "woven into all detail," the inn stated in an Instagram post. Reed and Fehr installed energy-efficient lighting, eliminated single-use straws and food containers, and stated they lone worked alongside tour operators who showed a dedication to the island's natural beauty.

Guests seemed to affection it. The inn has a 4.9-star average on TripAdvisor. "Both of the owners were so benevolent and knew us by name inside the archetypal day," one reviewer wrote.

In a declaration posted on Facebook, Arca stated that Reed and Fehr were far additional than the hotel's owners. "They were family," the inn wrote. "They believed in us, inspired us, and gave us the chance to be part of item really special."

Reed knew as fine as anyone else: existence can alter on a dime, so you have to bask all moment.

"I've learned that our plans are really beautiful laughable most of the time," she wrote in a pandemic-era blog post. "In the blink of an eye, things can change."