Woman's Death in Airport Conveyor Belt Ruled a Suicide

UPDATE Aug 13, 2024 2:30 AM CDT

The death of a woman found fatally entangled in a conveyor belt at Chicago O'Hare International Airport has been ruled a suicide. The woman was identified as Virginia Christine Vinton of Waxhaw, North Carolina, and the Cook County Medical Examiner ruled the manner of her death as hanging and asphyxiation, ABC 11 reports. The investigation into her death is ongoing, Fox News reports. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.

Aug 9, 2024 2:30 AM CDT

A 57-year-old woman died at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport Thursday morning after somehow entering a restricted area and getting entangled in a conveyor belt. The woman, who did not work at the airport, can be seen on surveillance video sneaking into an unoccupied employee-only area at around 2:30am, ABC 7 Chicago reports. Around five hours later, someone reported finding a woman "pinned in machinery" in a baggage room at the international terminal, and the Chicago Fire Department responded, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The unidentified woman was pronounced dead at the scene. It's not clear why she was at the airport overnight, or what she was doing between the hours of 2:30am and 7:30am after being spotted on the surveillance video.

The area where she was found is considered a secure area, but not a high-security area, officials say. The conveyor belts in the room in which her body was found transport luggage to and from airplanes in the international terminal. The woman's death is under investigation by Chicago police. Images from the scene show emergency crews arriving to the scene apparently near a Delta jet, and the airline says it is cooperating with the investigation and that its operations were not impacted. (An infant was killed on an airport conveyor belt in 2013.)