CHICAGO (CBS) – The Death of a 57-year-old woman whose body was found in a restricted area of Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Thursday and was diagnosed as suicide, was the second security breach at that airport in recent weeks.
The North Carolina woman was found in a restricted area in Terminal 5, trapped in the conveyor belt of baggage handling equipment. Surveillance video showed her entering the unoccupied area at 2:30 a.m.
How she got into the area was still unclear as of Friday.
Just 17 days before her death, a woman named Cecara Baker leaned on a table and chair to climb over a Department of Homeland Security wall at the closed TSA checkpoint in Terminal 1, according to a police report.
“I think it’s important to make clear that no airport security system is impenetrable,” says Jeff Price, professor of aviation management at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
Although Price did not know the details of the case, he gave us a general assessment of security at a major airport like O’Hare.
“One of the things we stress over and over again in airport security training is you can’t allow piggybacking,” Price said. “And even if you have a known employee behind you, you go through the door and close the door. They have to show their ID at that door to get through, because you can’t assume that their ID hasn’t suddenly been deactivated because a security risk has been identified, or maybe they’ve suddenly lost their job or there’s some other issue.”
Baker was arrested after it was discovered she had violated security measures. The 34-year-old was charged with trespassing and taken for a psychiatric evaluation after she was observed “behaving erratically” and “talking in circles.”
How can an airport prevent such security breaches?
Price said it starts with increased employee training and a security assessment at an airport.
CBS News Chicago asked O’Hare officials if they would conduct such an assessment, but there was no immediate response.
Suzanne Le Mignot
