Man found dead in plane engine at Salt Lake City airport seen running on tarmac in video

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Man found dead in plane engine at Salt Lake City airport seen trying to open building’s security doors

Security footage shows a man running through an airport and on the tarmac before he was found dead inside an aircraft engine. (Salt Lake City Airport via KSTU)

The man who was found dead inside a plane engine at Salt Lake City International Airport earlier this month was spotted on security footage trying to open secured doors in the building before running toward a taxiing plane on the tarmac.

Kyler Efinger, 30, died on Jan. 1 after first responders found him unconscious inside a wing-mounted engine of an occupied commercial aircraft on the airport’s deicing pad. The aircraft’s engines were not running at the time, police have said.

A store manager inside the airport reported a disturbance just before 10 a.m. that involved a passenger on the secured side of the terminal, and investigators later determined that a man had left through an emergency exit door and accessed the airport’s ramp area.

Security footage obtained by FOX13 Salt Lake City shows Efinger running around the airport. At one point he is seen trying to open a door from the terminal to the boarding bridge. 

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The man was seen trying to open a secured door from the terminal to the boarding bridge. (Salt Lake City Airport via KSTU)

After he was unable to open the door, the video shows, he banged on the glass window overlooking the tarmac and threw his shoes at the glass. He then could be seen kicking open a door to a stairwell and running down the stairs. 

The man was seen throwing a shoe a the glass window. (Salt Lake City Airport via KSTU)

A thermal imagery camera also showed a man running across the runway toward a taxiing plane before the clip ended abruptly.

The man was seen running toward a taxiing plane on the tarmac. (Salt Lake City Airport via KSTU)

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At around 10:10 a.m., first responders removed Efinger from the engine intake cowling and declared him dead on the scene despite life-saving efforts, police said.

While the cause of Efinger’s death has not yet been released, his family told FOX13 Salt Lake City that they believe he was experiencing a mental health crisis while traveling to Denver to visit his sick grandfather.

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“He got held up in security, missed his flight, and those phone calls, I just knew it was coming on,” his father, Judd Efinger, told the station. “They call it the manic phase. Those just don’t end well for him. Obviously, this one, the worst ever.”