JASPER, Ala. (AP) — Investigators believe a small plane that crashed in the Alabama woods was taken without permission for a joyride by a student pilot and two other teenagers who died in the wreck Tuesday night.

Walker County sheriff's Chief Deputy James Painter said Wednesday authorities are still investigating but believe the three teenagers took off in the plane before it went down in a wooded area near Jasper, northwest of Birmingham.

"We don't know for sure but we think it was some teenagers who stole the plane and were sort of joyriding it," Painter told The Associated Press. "They got it in and took off and didn't go very far."