The airport worker who found a woman’s body on a baggage carousel at Chicago O’Hare Airport has described the horrific moment he discovered her.
Virginia Vinton, who was seen entering an employee-only area at 2:30 a.m. on August 8, was found dead several hours later by a Delta Airlines baggage handler.
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It was originally reported that the mother of two children tragically became entangled in the machinery of Carousel 11, but authorities in Cook County, Illinois, have now ruled her death a suicide.
A Chicago Police incident report obtained by the Daily Mail details the baggage handler’s account to police as he began loading luggage onto the belt.
“He started the conveyor belt by swiping his airport ID and using his fingerprint to initiate operation,” the report said.
As the baggage belt started moving, the baggage belt’s opening opened and the unnamed airport employee saw a woman at the entrance to the belt.
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“He thought to himself, ‘Why is there a lady standing in the slide watching me, maybe she’s watching me at work,'” the report said.
The worker asked Vinton if he should turn off the belt, but as he continued loading bags onto the baggage carousel, he told police officers he had an “eerie feeling” and asked them if everything was OK.
Only when he approached the 57-year-old did he notice that she had wrapped a cable from the machine around her neck.
The Chicago Fire Department subsequently received reports of a woman who was “trapped in machinery” in the baggage area of the airport’s Terminal 5.
Firefighters cut the power cable and performed life-saving measures on Vinton, but she was pronounced dead at 7:55 a.m., the report said.
Shortly before Vinton was seen entering the exclusion zone in the early hours of the morning, airport surveillance footage showed her sitting next to Customs Door B in Terminal 5.
She then “left her seat, went to Carousel 11 and entered the lock at 2:26 a.m.,” Chicago police said, pointing out that although it was a restricted area, it was not a high-security area.
Five hours later, Vinton was found by the porter.
While her death was initially believed to be a tragic accident, the Cook County Coroner ruled it a suicide by asphyxiation after discovering that Vinton had wrapped the umbilical cord around her own neck.
Vinton, from North Carolina, was a missionary at Wycliffe Ministries in Waxhaw with her husband James, 59, with whom she has two daughters, Abby and Emily.
Your biography page on the Ministry website Features a picture of the Family everything is projected into a camera.
It details how the couple lived and translated Bibles in Mozambique, East Africa, for over a decade.
It is not known what Vinton was doing in Chicago, but the couple described in detail on the website how they made trips to the Midwest to visit friends in the Summer.
James now works “from North Carolina and travels to other parts of the world,” according to the Seed Company’s Director of Translation Consulting website.
Wycliffe Ministries has released a statement following the News of Vinton’s death.
“We are heartbroken by Virginia’s tragic death,” a spokesperson for the organization told The Christian Post.
“Our deepest condolences, thoughts and prayers are with her family during this difficult time.
“We respectfully ask that you respect the family’s privacy in their grief.”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org or text the Crisis Text Line on 741741.
