The Denver Medical Examiner on Tuesday identified the man hit and killed by a Frontier Airlines flight late Friday night at Denver International Airport as Michael Mott, 41. Denver Chief Medical Examiner Sterling McLaren said Mott died of multiple blunt force injuries and that the manner of death was suicide.
McLaren said the office reached that finding from the scene of the incident, which did not include a note. Fingerprints at the scene helped identify Mott.
The flight was bound for Los Angeles before it aborted takeoff. Five passengers were taken to the hospital, and four of those people had been released by Tuesday morning. Several more passengers reported minor injuries.
Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said investigators were still trying to determine more about what led up to the incident and were looking for anyone who knew Mott. He said investigators had not found any vehicle or bicycle where Mott jumped an eight-foot-tall fence, and that Mott had prior law enforcement contact in the metro area.
Airport chief Phil Washington said motion sensors picked up a herd of deer just outside the airport’s perimeter near the spot where Mott was when he crossed the fence. He said the location was about 2 miles from the airport terminal.
The identification answers the first question that hung over the case, but it does not close the file. Investigators still have to piece together what happened before Mott reached the fence and why he was there late Friday night, a task that now depends in part on finding people who knew him.
