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SLCPD Provides Update on Death Investigation at Salt Lake City International Airport

SALT LAKE CITY — Today, the Salt Lake City Police Department is providing an update to an ongoing death investigation.

The person who died is identified as 30-year-old Kyler Efinger, a resident of Park City, Utah.

Officers with the Salt Lake City Police Department’s Airport Division have learned Efinger was a ticketed passenger with a boarding pass to Denver, Colorado.

There are multiple agencies conducting separate investigations into this incident, including the Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

As previously released, this investigation started at approximately 9:52 p.m. on Monday, January 1, 2024, when a store manager inside the airport contacted dispatchers with the Airport Control Center. The store manager reported a disturbance involving a passenger on the secured side of the terminal. The nature of the disturbance remains under investigation.

As SLCPD officers responded, Airport Control informed them that the man passed through an emergency exit door.

SLCPD officers and Airport Operations employees started looking for the man and determined he accessed the airport’s outdoor ramp area from the emergency exit.

Due to the interest about this incident, the Salt Lake City Police Department is releasing additional information, including a timeline.

All times are listed in mountain standard time.

At 9:56 p.m., dispatchers informed SLCPD officers that the man had passed through an emergency exit inside the terminal. SLCPD officers began heading to the man’s last known location and arrived approximately one minute later and started checking the area on foot.

At 9:57 p.m., dispatchers provided SLCPD officers a clothing description of the man.

At 9:59 p.m., SLCPD officers advised they had checked the man’s last known location but could not find him. SLCPD officers continued their search.

At 10:02 p.m., dispatchers provided updated information on the man’s location.

At 10:03 p.m. dispatchers informed SLCPD officers of the man’s identity based on preliminary information gathered from airport officials.

At 10:04 p.m., SLCPD officers received information from airport employees that a pilot reported seeing the man.

At 10:05 p.m., SLCPD officers requested the FAA’s air traffic control tower be notified of the incident.

At 10:06 p.m., SLCPD officers and Airport Operations located personal items, including clothing and shoes, on one of the airport’s runways.

At 10:07 p.m., dispatchers informed SLCPD officers that the man was at one of the airport’s deicing pads.

At 10:08 p.m., dispatchers informed SLCPD officers the man was underneath an aircraft and had accessed the engine. SLCPD officers requested FAA air traffic controllers notify the pilot to shut down the aircraft’s engines.

At 10:08 p.m., SLCPD officers arrived and found the man unconscious partially inside a wing-mounted engine of an occupied commercial aircraft on the deicing pad. The aircraft’s engines were rotating. The specific stage of engine operation remains under investigation.

At 10:09 p.m. SLCPD officers and Airport Operations pulled the man from the engine’s intake cowling, secured the scene, began lifesaving efforts, and requested emergency medical services.

At 10:15 p.m., lifesaving efforts, including CPR and the administration of naloxone, continued.

Despite the lifesaving efforts, the man died on scene.

SLCPD officers will work with the medical examiner’s office to confirm the cause and manner of death, which may include a toxicology report.

SLCPD officers worked with Airport Operations to secure the area and to safely deplaned passengers.

This incident did not impact the overall operation to the airport.

The Salt Lake City Police Department’s Crime Lab responded to the scene to identify, collect, process, and analyze the scene.

No additional information is expected to be released pending the autopsy.

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