Airport worker asked ‘eerie’ question after spotting woman’s body on baggage carousel
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
In the early hours of 8 August, 57-year-old mother of two Virginia Vinton had been seen entering a restricted area at Chicago's O'Hare airport.
She then became tangled in the conveyor belt system used to move luggage around the airport and died, with Cook County Medical Examiner ruling that her death was a suicide.
Chicago Fire Department had been called to the airport to respond to claims of a woman 'pinned in machinery', but she was declared dead at 7:55am.
Vinton did not work at the airport, and though the area she accessed was restricted it was not a high-security zone.
When the 57-year-old was first found officials said she'd been seen 'entangled in the conveyer belt system used to move baggage'.
Her body was first found by a Delta Air Lines baggage handler who initially did not realise that she was dead.
According to an incident report the airport worker who found her body first thought 'why is there a lady in the chute looking at me, maybe observing me do my job'.
They did not initially know that Vinton was dead, asking the woman if she wanted the conveyor belt turning off before getting an 'eerie feeling'.
He then asked 'hey, are you okay?' before realising that she wasn't breathing.
Security footage showed the 57-year-old sitting in Terminal 5 at 2:26am on 8 August before getting up and walking into the restricted area.
The part of the airport she accessed was filled with conveyor belts that carried luggage between planes and the airport's international terminal, with baggage also going through a customs inspection.
According to an obituary for her, Vinton had worked as a missionary in Mozambique alongside her husband Jim, and later taught English and citizenship classes.
According to CBS, Vinton's suicide was the second security breach at the airport in recent weeks as in July a woman had used a table and chair to get over a wall.
An incident report said that a woman had managed to climb over a Department of Homeland Security wall at a closed TSA checkpoint in Terminal 1.
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Topics: US News
Joe Harker