Officials: Missing Charlotte Teen Found Dead Near Boston May Have Been a Stowaway

 

By Alicia Cruz

The Black Urban Times

WCNC North Carolina has reported that the 16-year-old Air Force Jr. ROTC student missing from Charlotte and found dead November 15 in Milton, Massachusetts may have been a stow-away inside an aircraft wheel well when he fell to his death as the plane descended towards the airport. 

Phil Orlandella, director of communications at Logan International Airport confirmed for NewsChannel 36 that local police are investigating the possibility that Delvonte Tisdale may have fell from an aircraft, which would explain the horrific injuries to his body and the fact that he was found with no shirt or shoes.

"We have been requested to look into that possibility," Orlandella said Tuesday. "It's something that theoretically can happen. It's a remote possibility." However, prosecutors have declined to co-sign the stowaway theory.

Orlandella added that officials are cross-checking records of arriving flights heading to Runway 4R, which crosses over Milton.

In a statement released by Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating's office, prosecutors said that while the investigation is "active and ongoing" by State and Milton police on multiple fronts, "The office continues to decline to detail specific investigatory measures being taken."

Officers have conducted numerous interviews in relation to Tisdale's death, but have yet to announce a person of interest. Following up on theory one, that the teen was murdered while driving north with friends, on Tuesday, police impounded one of the two vehicles eyewitnesses alleged were in the area just before police discovered the body, reported Bostonchannel.com.

The car, a white 2006 Audi, bore an out-of-state registration sticker which was expired, and was reportedly being driven by a student at Curry College. Milton police discovered the car in a parking lot in neighboring Dorchester.

Tuesday's report prompted officials to explore the possibility that Tisdale, described by family friend

Norman Brown Jr., as a good student and a "likable person," somehow snuck into the wheel well of a plane in Charlotte and as the aircraft approached Boston's Logan International airport, the well opened up, ejecting him from the crevice and sending him to his death. 

Prosecutors may be leery of this theory because Wheel wells on a plane are not pressurized and a stowaway isn't likely to have survived the sub-freezing temperatures of the upper atmosphere on a two-hour flight.

Rebecca Simensen, a spokeswoman for Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, told WCNC she was not aware of any security breach or an investigation into Tisdale's possible activities at the airport.

Multiple media outlets have reported that Tisdale's family plans to comment later today on the teens death.

According to Tisdale's step-sister, the Charlotte transplant had a contentious relationship with his father and ran away from home. She believes he may have been headed back to Baltimore where he lived prior to moving to Charlotte with his father and step-mother last summer.

The step-sister added that Tisdale did not want to be in the military and didn't like living in North Carolina. His brother, Craig Tisdale, 18, told the Boston Globe he believes his younger brother could have gotten into a car with two friends headed for Boston -- arranging to be dropped off in Baltimore.

"My best guess was that he was trying to come back to his family," Craig Tisdale said. "The guys he got in the car with were supposed to be friends. I think he was expecting to be driven back to Baltimore."

A police report from Charlotte-Mecklenberg police states Tisdale was last seen in Charlotte around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 14th.  His father reported him missing Monday. Massachusetts police discovered his body in Milton around 9:30 p.m. Monday night -- 22 hours after he was last seen. Charlotte is approximately 14 hours and 43 minutes from Milton by car and two hours by flight.

Tisdale's broken and badly mangled body was found clad in blue jeans and gray boxer shorts, in the middle of Brierbrook Street, a secluded part of Milton bordering the Blue Hills Reservation, according to The Baltimore Sun. Residents living in the community where the teen's body was discovered told WBTV Charlotte that Tisdale's remains were scattered over several properties and not confined to one area.

According to stories published by the Boston Globe, Milton Deputy Police Chief Charles Paris said Tisdale suffered "broken bones and severe trauma, particularly to the head". Additional evidence discovered at the scene included bone fragments. If the resident's accounts are accurate, this would support the stowaway theory.

An initial autopsy was deemed inconclusive due to the state his body was in. Officials were only able to identify Tisdale's remains from a note found on his body, which appeared to be a school "hall pass" with the words "Delvonte Tisdale A Lunch" written on it, along with a signature and the date 10/19/2010.   

Milton police urge anyone with information about Tisdale's death to call the police tip line at 617-698-COPS (2677) or the Massachusetts State Police at 508-820-2121.