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Jet Diverted after Man Hangs Himself in Bathroom

DENVER {Feb 9, 2006) — A Miami man apparently hanged himself in an airplane lavatory during a United Airlines flight from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, and the plane was diverted to Denver after his body was discovered, police said Thursday.

The Denver medical examiner's office identified the man as Gerald Georgettis, 56, and said his body was found on Wednesday. Medical examiner's spokeswoman Michelle Weiss-Samaras said an autopsy was planned.

Police detective Virginia Lopez said no other passengers were ever in danger.

"Right now, everything leads us to believe the male involved did commit suicide," she said.

United officials did not immediately return a call.

Last month, the El Paso County coroner ruled that a Sacramento, Calif., woman had committed suicide on an America West flight between Cleveland and Phoenix by overdosing on morphine. That flight made an unscheduled landing Jan. 6 in Colorado Springs after Stephanie Marson was found unconscious in her seat.

Dead passenger's name seem familar? Seems Mr. Georgettis has been having a bad week.

(CBS4) NORTH MIAMI {Feb 6, 2006} Gerald Georgettis is unemployed today, just two days after he drove his brand new SUV into the Metro Ford dealership, doused it and other cars with gasoline, and set them ablaze. He quit his job with the city of North Miami, and asked for speedy action with his severance pay, because he needed the money to hire a lawyer.

Georgettis, until Monday a performance art theatre manager for the City of Miami, has been charged with arson after he apparently snapped over a dispute on the price of his new SUV. He was released after posting bond Sunday.

Police say Georgettis believes he was scammed. “When he talks with the investigators, he told then that he was told one price for the vehicle, but when he got home and looked at the paperwork, it was something else,” said Miami-Dade detective Robert Williams. “it was considerably more.”

Witnesses watched Georgettis drive the SUV into the building and start the fire. Denise Cruz was in line at the body shop, and was standing near Georgettis when he lit the match. “And the next thing you heard was BOOM, and you saw flames all over the place,” said Cruz. “And I said to him, and I said sir, why would you want to do that?”

The fire quickly spread throughout the dealership, destroying cars, computers, and business paperwork. While the fire burned, Georgettis, now without a car, apparently calmly walked off down the street, where police officers found him a short time later. Officers claim Georgettis was yelling “Kill me, Kill me,” but officers took him into custody without incident.

At the dealership, 11 cars were destroyed including Georgettis new SUV. Also damaged, a limited edition baby-blue Ford GT, one of just 250 produced and a collectors item worth $150,000.

Sunday, Georgettis he was released from jail after paying just $1500 on a $15,000 bond. Monday, he saw his boss and resigned.
“The city has not had problems with him, he had no disciplinary actions registered against him, and everybody in the city is as surprised as everyone else about this incident,” said North Miami Beach City Manager Gary Brown.

Because there were people in the building, Georgettis is charged with first degree Arson, which carries the penalty of up to 30 years in prison.

Miami-Dade police say they regularly get calls to auto dealerships from people upset with their car purchase, and the Consumer Federation of America says auto dealer fraud tops it’s list of complaints.

Georgettis is not speaking with reporters, and neither is the car dealer whose business he destroyed. When asked by CBS4 Reporter Gary Nelson for a comment, an unidentified spokesman for the dealership said “I understand, there’s no have no comment right now. I’d appreciate it if you can respect that, we’re just trying to get our business back to normal, that’s all.”

Total damage to Metro Ford has been estimated at almost $1 million dollars.