This was news to the singer when authorities reached out to her. "The first we heard of this was when the appropriate authorities contacted Taylor's management about the crash," Swift's publicist, Paula Erickson, told The Tennessean. "Taylor does not know this person."

Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron told the Tennessean in an email that one of the precinct detectives heard from the Federal Aviation Administration that Callan had listed Swift as his next of kin with the flying club in Canada. This was then passed to the agency's Specialized Investigations Unit, where "a sergeant in that unit relayed the information to Swift's security team. Swift's team reported back that no one, including the singer, had heard of Callan before the crash."