EXCLUSIVEPICTURED: Missionary mom-of-two, Virginia Vinton, 57, who killed herself in O'Hare airport baggage conveyor belt as chilling new details of gruesome scene are revealed
- Virginia Vinton was found by a Delta Airlines baggage handler on August 8
- If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts call the National Suicide Hotline at 988
- READ MORE: Cause of death for woman found in baggage carousel REVEALED
The airport worker who discovered the body of a woman in a luggage carousel chute at Chicago O'Hare Airport told police how he could not immediately make sense of the ghoulish scene that confronted him when he started his August 8 shift.
Missionary Virginia Vinton was found dead shortly before 7:30am on Thursday llast week with initial reports suggesting she had become 'entangled' in one of the airport's luggage belts.
Now, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal the chilling truth of the 57-year-old mother of two's bizarre death and why it was ruled a suicide by authorities in Cook County, Illinois.
According to the Chicago Police Department incident report obtained by DailyMail.com Vinton was found by a Delta Airlines baggage handler when he arrived to begin loading luggage from a recently arrived flight at Carousel 11.
North Carolina mom-of-two Virginia Christine Vinton, 57, with husband, Jim, 59, and daughters Abby and Emily
Vinton's death in the carousel area of O'Hare Airport was ruled a suicide by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office
The report details the sinister scene as it unfolded, stating: 'He began starting up the conveyor belt by swiping his airport ID and using his fingerprint to begin operations.'
As the belt began to move and the small overhead door opened, the handler noticed a woman at the entrance of the conveyor belt.'
The worker whose name is redacted in the report stated: 'He thought to himself, 'why is there a lady in the chute looking at me, maybe observing me do my job.'
He then asked the woman, 'Do you want me to turn off the conveyor belt?'
As he continued to place bags on the belt, he told officers he felt an 'eerie feeling' and called out to her, 'Hey, are you ok?'
It was only as he got closer to her he realized she wasn't responding and she had an electrical cord wrapped around her neck.
Chicago Fire Department responded to the scene and managed to cut Vinton down. They performed life saving measures, the report reads, 'to no avail', and she was declared dead by a doctor on the scene at 7:55am.
Vinton worked for the Wycliffe Ministries in Waxhaw, North Carolina, where she lived with husband, Jim, 59, and daughters Abby, 23, and Emily, 21.
It is not known why she was in Chicago, but the couple said on a website that they liked to visit friends in the Midwest every summer.
Information on Wycliffe Ministries' website states that the couple lived in Mozambique, East Africa, for 12 years where they worked as missionaries translating bibles into local languages.
A police report obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com includes details of the airport employee's gruesome discovery, revealing he found her 'unresponsive with an electrical cord wrapped around her neck, possible strangulation'
The area of O'Hare Airport terminals where Vinton's body was discovered is considered secure, but not 'highly secure'
In 2011 Jim became a bible translation consultant, carrying out the final check of translated Scriptures before they are printed and he was recently promoted to CEO of Seed Company, an organization that translates bibles with, according to the company website, the goal of transforming lives.
What is known, is that Vinton was seated by Customs Door B in O'Hare's Terminal 5 in the small hours of Thursday morning.
Security footage obtained by Chicago PD shows that she, 'left her seat and walked over to Carousel 11 and walked into the chute of the same @2.26HRS.'
She wasn't seen again unti five hours later when the baggage handler made his gruesome discovery.
Chicago Fire officials initially believed Vinton's death to be the result of an industrial accident.
But as a fuller picture emerged, along with the conclusion that Vinton had wrapped the cord around her own throat, Cook County Medical Examiner ruled her death a suicide by asphyxiation.
Her husband Jim could not be reached for comment.
Authorities said the part of the airport the woman entered is restricted to employees, and while it's considered secure, it isn't a high-security area, ABC 7 reported.
