BEDFORD, Ind. -- Monday's crash of a small plane into the Bedford-area house of the pilot's former or estranged mother-in-law -- a wreck that killed him and his 8-year-old daughter -- may have been intentional, police said.

The pilot's daughter, Emily Johnson, the passenger in the plane, had been reported missing by her mother at about the time the crash happened Monday morning, police said.

Findings from the preliminary crash investigation "lead us to believe that this was an intentional act," Indiana State Police spokesman 1st Sgt. Dave Bursten said. Authorities will not know for sure until the National Transportation Safety Board completes its investigation, which could take up to a year, Bursten said.

Authorities said the plane, piloted by Eric Johnson, 47, of Connersville, crashed into the one-story home, near the Virgil I. Grissom Municipal Airport outside of Bedford, at about 11 a.m. The house belongs to Emily Johnson's grandmother, Vivian Pace, who was in the home but not injured when the plane hit, Bursten said.

The plane had just taken off from the airport, just outside the city about 20 miles south of Bloomington, WRTV in Indianapolis reported.

The plane had been leased from that airport, state police Cpl. Eric Dunn said. Witnesses said the plane appeared to be trying to land during clear, sunny conditions when it veered 90 degrees and went out of sight just outside the city about 20 miles south of Bloomington, The Times-Mail newspaper reported on its Web site.

There was no fire even though the impact left the plane's front half lodged inside the house, scattering siding and other debris across the yard.

Pace said she was in her living room when the plane struck the house, which is along a rural two-lane road. "Everything fell off the walls," she told the newspaper.

She said she tried to call 911, but her phone line was out. She said she was on her way to a neighbor's home when a firefighter arrived.