Some folks sure get into the spirit of this holiday.
Tucson airport personnel find skull in luggage
Posted: Oct 8, 2008 03:50 PM EDT
TUCSON, AZ - Tucson International Airport security were greeted with quite the surprise Wednesday morning when they discovered a human skull in the piece of checked luggage.
On Wednesday, TSA screeners were scanning the luggage that was going on American Airlines flight 690 destined for Philadelphia. When they found the skull TSA immediately contacted supervisors and law enforcement.
Captain John Ivanoff says "We looked at it further and tried to determine who it belonged to and why it was there?"
The female passenger who owned the luggage had already boarded her flight, but was pulled off by security personnel for questioning.
According to TSA, the woman says the skull was brought back by her boyfriend after his military deployment in Okinawa, Japan. The woman says she was bringing the skull to Philadelphia for halloween.
Tucson Police were also called in. They questioned the woman and searched her home. She told them the skull belonged to her boyfriend and that it had been sitting in the garden for about 4-years. The skull has been transported to a county medical examiner's office. According to the medical examiner's office the skull belongs to a human male 20-30 years old of Japanese decent.
Dr. Bruce Anderson of the medical examiner's office verified that, "This was sitting on the ground in a garden in the dirt with some algae or moss growing."
Airport Police credit the screeners saying their attention to detail is what keeps passengers safe.
John Sides, Federal Security Director with the Transportation Security Administration says, "It's hard to say what you might find in there but its imperative they do that security job that the citizens expect them to do."
TDP says they have contacted the Office of Special Investigation, a military investigation office which plans to look into whether the boyfriend legally obtained the skull.
No charges were filed against the woman, and she was allowed to fly to Philadelphia. In addition, there were no charges filed against the boyfriend. If charges were to come they would likely come from the Office of Special Investigation.