Dead woman found entangled in O’Hare baggage machinery was from North Carolina, authorities say

CHICAGO (AP) — The dead woman who was found entangled in a baggage conveyor belt at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport was from North Carolina, authorities said Friday.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the woman as 57-year-old Virginia Christine Vinton of Waxhaw, North Carolina. The office’s spokesperson, Natalia Derevyanny, said an autopsy was scheduled for Friday.

Firefighters responding to a 911 call found Vinton’s body entangled in the belt around 7:45 a.m. Thursday in a baggage room near a terminal that serves international flights.

According to police, surveillance footage shows Vinton enter the area around 2:27 a.m. Thursday, but it doesn’t show what happened to her.

The room where Vinton’s body was found is off limits to the public, and it’s unclear why she was in it, authorities said. A U.S. Department of Labor spokesman said she was not an airport employee.

Police declined to comment further on the matter.