Overview

• Maintenance workers discovered the body around 9 a.m. Sunday during work on an aircraft that had recently arrived from Europe.
• CMPD airport-division officers pronounced the individual dead as homicide detectives and crime scene teams opened a death investigation.
• American Airlines and Charlotte Douglas International Airport say they are cooperating with police, and airport operations continue normally.
• Police have not disclosed the person’s origin or how the aircraft was accessed, and an autopsy is expected to determine cause of death.
• Local outlets reported hypoxia or hypothermia as likely causes with no signs of foul play, and FAA data show most wheel‑well stowaway attempts are fatal.