Delvonte Tisdale 16, mangled body found 860 miles from home Milton, MA (fell from plane)

[Nut44x4]

Mystery Surrounds Teen's Death
16-Year-Old Found Dead In Milton
POSTED: 5:29 pm EST November 22, 2010

BOSTON -- The badly mutilated body of a teen was discovered in a Milton neighborhood one week ago, and police are still trying to determine how he died.

A 2006 white Audi is one of two vehicles the Milton police impounded in the investigation of Delvonte Tisdale's death.

The Audi's out-of-state registration is expired, and the car was being driven by a Curry College student, police said.

"I can't comment really much on what the cars yielded. We know that those are the cars we're interested in," Milton Police Department Chief Richard Wells said.

Police found the 16-year-old's mutilated body on Nov. 15 on a rural road in Milton, just hours after he was reported missing from his father's home more than 800 miles away in North Carolina.

"Our biggest question to the public would be how he got here, who he was with," Wells said.

One of 17 children, Tisdale had to be identified with fingerprints. Police said the ROTC student lived with his father and stepmother, who said they are devastated.

The cause of Tisdale's death is listed as inconclusive. The Medical Examiner's office is awaiting toxicology results.
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/r/25882739/detail.html

[Nut44x4]

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl&q=Charlotte%2C%20North%20Carolina%20to%20Milton%2C%20MA

[Nut44x4]

Previous story

Milton Murder Victim Identified As N.C. Teen
November 19, 2010 1:45 PM
MILTON (CBS) – A badly mangled body found lying in the street of an upscale Milton neighborhood has been identified, ending the week long murder mystery.

Delvonte Tisdale, a 16-year-old ROTC student from Charlotte, North Carolina was reported missing on Monday. On Friday afternoon, his father confirmed to CBS television station WBTV that his son’s body was found in Milton, Mass.

The key evidence in identifying the teen proved to be a note found in his pocket. The school hall pass had a name appearing to read ‘Delonte Tisdale’ scrawled on it. No student by that name lived in Milton or nearby Boston.


Tisdale was a high school sophomore at North Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte. He was last seen on Sunday night. A missing person report was filed Monday afternoon; his body was found late Monday night on Brierbrook Street, a secluded Milton neighborhood.

A vehicle witnessed near the Milton scene was recovered by police. The white Audi was registered in Illinois and had a Curry College sticker on it.

There have been no arrests, and no official cause of death has been released. It is unclear how Tisdale ended up in Massachusetts.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2010/11/19/possible-break-in-milton-murder-mystery/

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MILTON — Police visited a home in Charlotte, N.C., last night as they investigated whether the mangled body of a teenager found along a quiet road here this week is that of a high school student reported as missing there.

Milton police received an out-of-state call Thursday night regarding the missing boy, a high school sophomore and ROTC member. “It came out of the blue,’’ said Police Chief Richard G. Wells Jr.

The clue that may link the unidentified body discovered shirtless and shoeless Monday night and the missing 16-year-old Delvonte Tisdale was a note found on the body, which appeared to be a school hall pass, bearing a first name beginning with a “D.’’ The rest of the first name was difficult to decipher, but the name appeared to be “Delvonte’’ or “Delconte’’; the last name appeared to be “Tisdale,’’ according to authorities.

Tisdale’s father reported the boy was last seen around 11:30 p.m. Sunday, according to a report released by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Milton Deputy Chief Charles Paris said police had yet to confirm that the victim was Tisdale and cautioned against leaping to conclusions, noting that someone else could have had Tisdale’s note in his pocket.

“It could be somebody different until we scientifically prove it,’’ he said.

Wells said a Milton officer and two state troopers went to Tisdale’s home in Charlotte last night. He said they were using forensic methods, including testing DNA samples and matching fingerprints to make a positive identification.

The medical examiner had not been able to determine the cause of death, Paris said.

“I’d imagine it has something to do with the condition of the body,’’ he said.

Some relatives of Tisdale’s said yesterday that they think the boy was running away, as he has done several times in the past year. They said he had a contentious relationship with his father and they think he might have gotten in a car with two friends, hoping they would drop him off in Baltimore on their way to Boston.

“My best guess was that he was trying to come back to his family,’’ Craig Tisdale, 18, an older half-brother, said from his home in Baltimore. “The guys he got in the car with were supposed to be friends. I think he was expecting to be driven back to Baltimore.’’

He and other relatives said Tisdale had 17 brothers and sisters from different parents and that he was a good kid who loved to spend time with his extended family and hoped to join the military after finishing high school. He said his brother reluctantly moved to North Carolina last year and thought he would just be there for a few months.

“He had a tough relationship with his father, but he was nothing but good,’’ Craig Tisdale said. “He was a great kid, always with a smile on his face.’’

Diane Turner, the mother of several of Tisdale’s siblings, including Craig, said the teen loved to play football and basketball and spend time with his brothers and sisters.

“It’s really hard for us right now, and it’s going to be difficult for all of us,’’ she said.

She said Tisdale’s mother, Jonette Washington, was with her former husband and the boy’s father, Anthony Tisdale, in Charlotte. Neither of them responded to phone messages left by a reporter.

“All we know is that he ran away,’’ Turner said, adding that she didn’t think the boy knew anyone in Milton or the surrounding area. “We really don’t know what happened.’’

Kathleen Johansen, a spokeswoman for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, which includes North Mecklenburg High School in Huntsville, N.C., said Tisdale was a 10th-grader at the school who participated in ROTC.

It was his first year at the school; he had just moved into the district. She said she did not know where he attended school previously.

Tisdale’s father had approached several school employees, included the ROTC instructor, a few days earlier this week to inform them the boy was missing and to ask whether they knew his whereabouts, Johansen said.

As of yesterday afternoon, the district had not been informed that the body in Milton was Tisdale’s.

“We just don’t know,’’ she said. “Nothing’s been confirmed with us.’’

The school system has several zones, each of which has its own superintendent. A woman in the Northeast Zone superintendent’s office said the lunch periods at North Mecklenburg High are labeled with the letters, A, B, C, and so on — bolstering the theory that the note was a hall pass allowing Tisdale to eat lunch during A period.

Neither a Charlotte police spokesman nor detectives returned messages seeking comment.

Wells said police have interviewed a number of potential witnesses, but he would not comment further. He said the department’s primary focus remained identifying the victim.

Two vehicles were impounded as part of the inquiry. Officials said one had a Curry College sticker in the rear window. Curry is about 1 1/2 miles from where the body was found. A Curry spokeswoman referred all inquiries to police.

Residents along Brierbrook Road were shocked after learning that the body had been dumped there.

Milton police have described the body as a young black male, about 5-feet-7, 120 pounds, with a slight build. The body was found about 22 hours after Tisdale’s father said he went missing.

Another half-brother, Kenneth Tisdale, 16, also of Baltimore and also a son of Turner’s, described the missing teen as “a very outgoing person.’’

“He was popular in most places and had a good attitude,’’ he said. “He didn’t have problems with anyone.’’

Norman Brown, a former next-door neighbor in Baltimore who said he was like an uncle to Tisdale, said the teen was “a happy child.’’

Yesterday, there were a number of posts on Facebook from friends and relatives expressing their sorrow for the loss of the teen.

“Today is the WORST DAY of my life,’’ wrote Erica Holloway of Baltimore, who identified herself on her Facebook page as his sister. She did not respond to e-mails or phone calls.

“I just found out my brother delvonte tisdale was found dead,’’ she wrote. “this is the worst holiday season of my . . . life.’’
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/11/20/body_found_in_milton_might_be_missing_nc_teenager/

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Paris said police still don’t know who drove the car that brought Delvonte here. He said a white Audi spotted on Brierbrook Street last Monday night turned out not to be involved.
The Audi was found in the parking lot of the Baker Chocolate Factory apartments in the Lower Mills neighborhood near the Milton line. It had Illinois license plates and a Curry College parking sticker.

Paris said the car’s owners were interviewed Saturday and they aren’t suspects. They just happened to be on Brierbrook Street about the time the body was reported.

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http://www.patriotledger.com/features/x291610468/Milton-victims-identity-confirmed-as-missing-N-C-teen

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Massport investigating possibility that Milton body fell from plane

November 23, 2010 09:53 AM
 
Authorities are investigating the "remote possibility'' that Delvonte Tisdale's body fell out of an airplane as it passed over Milton when the aircraft prepared to land at Boston's Logan Airport, a Massport spokesman said today.

The body of Tisdale was found Nov. 15, launching an investigation that so far has been unable to answer how the 16-year-old made it from his home in Charlotte, NC to an upscale neighborhood in Milton where he had no known ties. Milton police have said his body was mutilated.

Massport spokesman Phil Orlandella this morning said Massport is now checking records to see what flights and what type of aircraft passed over Milton last Monday night. Arriving flights heading to Runway 4R cross Milton, he said.
.
"We have been requested to look into that possibility,'' Orlandella said today. "It's something that theoretically can happen. It's a remote possibility.''

One theory being explored is that Tisdale somehow snuck into the wheel well of an aircraft and when the plane prepared to land, the well opened up, sending him plummeting to the ground. Officials said wheel wells on jet aircraft are not pressurized and a stowaway likely would not have survived the sub-freezing temperatures of the upper atmosphere.

Meanwhile, Tisdale's family and will meet with reporters for the first time today since the link was made between the body in Milton and the sophomore and at North Mecklenberg High School.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/11/massport_invest.html

[Nut44x4]

10.24.10
Did Teen Stowaway Fall Out of Jet Plane Over Boston?
North Carolina high school student's death under investigation

While all the attention is focused on airport security checkpoint turmoil, perhaps there are also bizarre things happening on runways.

Although it is being defined as “remote possibility,” authorities have raised the possibility that a  16-year-old North Carolinian whose mutilated body was found on the front lawn of suburban Boston home could have fallen out of a airplane wheel well.

Under this theory, the teen stowaway would have crawled into the wheel well before the Boston-bound plane left the airport in Charlotte.

Officials at Boston’s Logan Airport are investigating the cause of death of the alleged stowaway according to the Boston Herald:

FAA and Logan officials told the Herald yesterday that jets inbound to Boston from the south do drop their landing gear at about 2,000 feet in the air — right over Milton. And a flight from North Carolina did pass over Milton that night, according to online flight records.
An autopsy has been unable to determine the exact cause of death other than trauma. A toxicology report is pending.

The high school student has been missing since Sunday.

http://www.indyposted.com/128900/did-teen-stowaway-fall-from-plane/

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Milton Police recover clothing in Milton that may solve Delvonte Tisdale mystery
December 10, 2010 01:19 PM

MILTON -- Police reportedly have found clothes in Milton that may solve the mystery of how a North Carolina teenager died, and how his body ended up in a quiet neighborhood of the South Shore community.

WHDH-TV reported this afternoon that a search by police led to the recovery of clothing that investigators expect to link to Delvonte Tisdale, whose mangled body was found in Milton Nov. 15, about 22 hours after he was last seen by his father in Charlotte, N.C.

Milton Deputy Police Chief Charles Paris said officers recovered "a couple of items" today at around 11 a.m. in the general area where Tisdale's body was found.

He would not confirm the items were clothing but said they were taken to the State Police crime lab for analysis. Paris would not say how the items related to the investigation into Tisdale's death.

In its noon broadcast, WHDH showed video taken from its helicopter that showed a red jacket with white stripes that police had found in the woods today.

Milton police said in November that Tisdale's body appeared to have been mutilated, but the state medical examiner's office has not issued a formal cause of death.

One theory being pursued by investigators is that Tisdale -- who was a member of the Air Force ROTC program at his high school -- stowed away in the wheel well of an aircraft in North Carolina.

As the aircraft flew over Milton while preparing to land at Logan Airport, the well opened, plummeting Tisdale's body into the neighborhood, according to the theory being investigated.

Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating, whose office is directing the investigation, did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment. Police have ended their search in Milton.

Police have recovered two cars that neighbors saw speeding away from the area the night Tisdale's body has been found. One of the vehicles was linked to a Curry College student, who has retained an attorney, but news reports have suggested there is no connection with Tisdale's death.

No one is currently facing any criminal charges in connection with Tisdale's death.
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/milton/2010/12/police_recover_clothing_in_mil_2.html

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Dead Teen Had Stowed Away On Plane
Industrial Aviation Grease Found On Delvonte Tisdale's Pants

POSTED: 5:55 pm EST December 6, 2010
UPDATED: 6:34 pm EST December 6, 2010

BOSTON -- The investigation into the mysterious death of a teenager whose body was found in a Massachusetts neighborhood continues to point in an unusual direction.

Law enforcement sources are nearly certain Delvonte Tisdale stowed away on a plane and that is how he got from his home in North Carolina to Massachusetts.

NewsCenter 5 has learned that the 16-year-old had industrial aviation grease on his pants.

"That would be consistent with being around an airplane or being in the wheel well," MIT professor John Hansman said.

Police found Tisdale's body in a residential neighborhood in Milton on Nov. 15. The area is under the final approach to Logan International Airport -- a spot where planes lower their landing gear. Sources said investigators believe that's when Tisdale's body fell out.

"It's unlikely if he did fall out that he was ever conscious -- due to the lack of oxygen and the temperature," Hansman said.

It wasn't until nearly two weeks later that detectives searched the wheel well of a U.S. Airways Charlotte to Boston plane for evidence.

"On normal takeoff and landing, there is a lot of wind that goes through that area," Hansman said.
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/26039323/detail.html

[Sister]

How horrid for this young man and his family and friends.

[Nut44x4]

I am going to move this. I find nothing that indicates a crime was committed against this young man.

[Sister]

I am going to move this. I find nothing that indicates a crime was committed against this young man.

I think you're right Nut.

[Nut44x4]

NC teen who fell from plane slipped through lax security
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Authorities in North Carolina admitted Monday that there are security flaws at the Charlotte airport, and that's likely how a 16-year-old found a way to get in the landing gear of a commercial jet.

snip

“Detectives identified various locations where Mr. Tisdale may have breached airport security and gained access to the aircraft,” Chief Rodney Monroe said.

The three month investigation didn't determine exactly where Tisdale got past the security fence, or how he got into the wheel well of a plane.

MORE
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/12003664708745/nc-teen-who-fell-from-plane-slipped-through-lax-security/