The identity and cause of death of a woman whose body was found twisted into the baggage conveyor belt system at Chicago O’Hare Airport earlier this week has been revealed.
The woman was identified Friday as Virginia Christine Vinton, a 57-year-old from Waxhaw, NC
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office she said died of suicideand her manner of death was listed as hanging and suffocation, according to ABC 11. No further details were provided.
Firefighters were called to the airport around 7:45 a.m. on Thursday to a report of a person “stuck in machinery” in a restricted area of Terminal 5.
When they arrived at the scene, they discovered Vinton “entangled in the conveyor belt system used to move luggage,” officials said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Vinton, who did not work at the airport, was seen on surveillance video hours earlier, enters the luggage compartment for employees only shortly before 2:30 a.m., which was otherwise unmanned at the time. The area is filled with conveyor belts responsible for bringing luggage to and from airplanes in the international terminal.
Police are still working to determine what Vinton was doing in the hours between when she was seen entering the area and when her body was discovered.
An investigation into the matter is ongoing.