SALT LAKE CITY — FOX 13 News has obtained footage from security cameras at the Salt Lake City International Airport showing the moments leading up to a man's untimely death after he entered the tarmac through an emergency exit, then was eventually found dead inside a jet engine turbine.
Kyler Efinger, 30, died the night of Jan. 1 after climbing into the turbine.
Salt Lake City Police said that at 9:52 p.m., a store manager inside the airport reported a disturbance involving a passenger on the secured side of the terminal. Airport control later told officers that a man went through an emergency exit door.
Newly released videos from the Salt Lake City Department of Airports show Efinger running up to a locked door at one of the gates and attempting to open it. He then has a brief interaction with a person who appears to be a custodian, then runs off and tries to open another door.
Efinger then uses his shoes — which he had previously taken off — to hit the window next to the second door. He then runs off again.
A security camera just outside an emergency exit then shows Efinger kicking the door open, then running down the stairwell.
After that, the next video provided is from a thermal imaging camera, showing a distant view of the tarmac. It shows a plane slowly taxiing as Efinger runs toward it.
The video cuts out before he reaches the aircraft.
The cause of his death has not yet been released.
There are dozens of other clips with multiple hours of footage provided by airport officials, which FOX 13 will be reviewing and possibly releasing more. They span from him being dropped off at the airport to going through security, walking through the terminal, approaching the gate, and eventually, running away from the gate and dropping his belongings.
Efinger was scheduled to fly to Denver to see his sick grandfather, but he had an unspecified episode and breached the airport security door. His family believes the incident stemmed from another mental health crisis.
“He got held up in security, missed his flight, and those phone calls, I just knew it was coming on. They call it the manic phase. Those just don’t end well for him," his father, Judd Efinger, told FOX 13 in the days after the unfortunate incident. "Obviously, this one, the worst ever.”
