Developer with stake in Caps dies in Delaware helicopter crash

DAGSBORO, Del. -- A real estate developer with a small stake in the Washington Capitals and a pilot were killed when their helicopter crashed in a soybean field shortly after taking off in fog, authorities said.

Joshua Freeman, 42, was on his way from a holiday party at a golf club his company owned to another event in Washington when the 1998 Bell 407 helicopter went down Thursday night in the southern Delaware field, state police said.

It was not immediately clear whether the fog played a role in the crash about a quarter mile from where the chopper took off. Federal and state investigators were on the scene.

The helicopter was registered to Full Service LLC, of Washington. Authorities identified the pilot as Danielle Howell, 30, of Richmond, Va.

Freeman was president and chief operating officer of Carl M. Freeman Cos., a development company founded by his father. The younger Freeman owned a small share of the National Hockey League's Capitals through a company called Lincoln Holdings LLC.

"We are truly shocked and saddened by the sudden, tragic loss of Josh Freeman, a good friend and partner in Lincoln Holdings," Capitals majority owner Ted Leonsis said in a news release. "All of us associated with the Capitals organization will lend our thoughts and prayers to the Freeman family."

Lincoln Holdings owns the Capitals, the WNBA's Washington Mystics and about 44 percent of Washington Sports and Entertainment Limited Partnership, which in turn owns the NBA's Washington Wizards, the Verizon Center where the three teams play and the Baltimore-Washington Ticketmaster franchise, according to Lincoln Holdings' Web site.