Deanese Williams-Harris and Rebecca Johnson
Chicago Tribune
(TNS)
CHICAGO — Police have opened a death investigation after a woman was discovered dead at a terminal early Thursday morning at O’Hare International Airport.
The Chicago Fire Department was called out to Terminal 5 at O’Hare Airport for a report of a woman pinned in machinery around 7:45 a.m., according to department spokesman Larry Langford.
When firefighters arrived they found the woman entangled in the conveyor belt system used to move baggage in terminal 5. Paramedics confirmed the woman was deceased at the scene, Langford said.
Chicago police identified her as a 57-year-old woman Thursday afternoon, though her identity has not been released. Surveillance video showed the woman entering an unoccupied restricted area at 2:27 a.m., a police spokesperson said.
The woman was not an airport worker, according to Scott Allen, a spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Labor, who added that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration doesn’t have jurisdiction in the investigation.
A source said that the woman was a member of the public, but it remained unclear how the death occurred. The area was declared a crime scene and the investigation was handed over to Chicago police, Langford said.
Detectives were conducting a death investigation pending autopsy results.
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