LOS ANGELES — Just as he had so many times before, Mark Benjamin rode his small jet from a town in the Idaho wilderness he loved to the Southern California airport he knew so well.

The flight went well until, landing into the sunset, it veered off the runway and into a storage hangar.

On Tuesday, forensic specialists worked to identify the remains of four people pulled from the charred wreckage of Benjamin’s Cessna 525A. Meanwhile, federal safety investigators curtailed their work due to the partial government shutdown.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office took the remains from the aircraft at Santa Monica Municipal Airport and tried to match dental X-rays with X-rays of people believed to be aboard, Lt. Fred Corral said. That process could be completed today.

Among the likely deceased were Benjamin, CEO of Morley Builders, and his son, Luke Benjamin, a senior project manager with the company.

It was not immediately clear who the other two dead people were. Also recovered were the remains of two cats and a dog.

During Sunday’s flight, there was “no communication with the pilot indicting there’s a problem with the aircraft at any time,” Van McKenny, lead investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said Monday.