Teen Likely Fell From Plane In Sky Above Boston During Route

By: John Lester
Staff Writer
Published: Dec 13, 2021

Teen Likely Fell From Plane

Teen likely fell from plane in sky above Boston during route. A teen whose mutilated body was found in Boston fell from the sky after hiding on a plane. Norfolk District Attorney William Keating cited evidence including a handprint in the wheel well.

Keating said Friday that he'd informed federal transportation safety officials about the apparent airport security breach by 16-year-old Delvonte Tisdale. The teen was from North Carolina. His clothing was found after the District Attorney announced that he likely fell from the airplane.

"To withhold any information at this point I think would endanger public safety," Keating said in a statement. He held a press conference Friday after police searched a wooded area in Milton near where Tisdale's body was found last month. Along a path a Boston-bound commercial jet would have taken while approaching the city, they found dark sneakers with white stripes and a red shirt matching clothing Tisdale's family said he'd worn, Keating said.

The District Attorney also said an autopsy showed trauma to the teen's body "was consistent with a fall from a significant height." Investigators also discovered a handprint in grease inside the wheel well on the left side of a Boeing 737 that took off from Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte on Nov. 15. "We feel it's important to inform federal transportation safety officials that it appears more likely than not that Mr. Tisdale was able to breach airport security and hide in the wheel well of a commercial jet liner without being detected by airport security personnel," Keating said.