Dead man found in LAX restroom, his head covered in a bag and hands bound [Updated]

A man whose head was covered in a bag and who had his hands bound was found dead Wednesday morning in a restroom at Terminal 3 at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said.

Airport police were called to the bathroom shortly before 8 a.m. and found a body slumped in a stall, according to sources familiar with the case. They called Los Angeles police, who dispatched detectives with the department's robbery-homicide division to investigate.

The sources said it was not immediately clear if the death was a suicide or a homicide. 

[Updated at 12:30 p.m.: Los Angeles police said that a preliminary investigation indicates that the man in the restroom died from a possible suicide. They said the case has been turned over to the Los Angeles County Coroner to determine official cause of death. They also stressed that the investigation was in its early stages.]

Law enforcement officials said they could not recall a killing ever taking place inside the airport terminal. [Updated at 1:30 p.m. In 2002, Jacob Aminov, 46, and Victoria  Hen, 25, were slain and    Sarah Phillips, 61, was wounded during an attack at the El Al airline counter at LAX by 41-year-old Egyptian immigrant Hesham Mohamed Hadayet. Hadayet was shot and killed by an El Al security guard. FBI agents later said Hadayet was angry over Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.]

Through the first half of the year, total crime at LAX decreased 6% to 1,146 incidents, from 1,222 incidents reported during the same period a year earlier. The total number of arrests decreased marginally, from 674 in the first six months of 2009 to 664 for the same period in 2010.

During the first half of 2010, there was one aggravated assault resulting in an arrest reported, compared with none by midyear 2009.

Nearly 29 million travelers used LAX through June 30 -- a 4.85% increase over the same period last year. About 236,000 people pass through the airport on an average day.

-- Andrew Blankstein

Comments

[Brian]

Wait, his hands were bound and they think it was a sucicide?

[Nick]

With people leaving LA in droves and people buying more guns to protect themselves one would assume that crime will go down no thanks to the police.

[lee]

Head covered in a bag and hands bound? Doesn't sound like a suicide.

[ainitodd]

Isn't it odd that no mention is made of the probable CAUSE of death? No mention is made of whether the bag was a PLASTIC bag or Cloth bag? No mention is made whether any visible INJURIES to the man?

How could this be suicide? The whole story sounds fishy, like the facts are being played down. Who was the man? Will there be any followup or will it just be quickly buried, swept from the public's attention?

[SDLurker]

Suicide? With his hands bound! How did he bind his own hands without the use of his hands? Assisted suicide maybe, but smells fishy to me.

[LadyDell]

He committed suicide by binding his own hands?? How does that happen?

[pollyanna downe]

So...

his hands were bound, and the Los Angeles police think it may have been a suicide. How exactly does that work?

Well done again, L.A.'s finest (idiots).

[Liz]

Who binds their own hands to commit suicide? Seems fishy.

[ainitodd]

Was the man a TRAVELER with a ticket? What was he doing at the airport? Was he engaged in some critical occupation such as research biologist or scientist, or a writer with controversial or inflammatory writings? Why jump to "suicide" without informing the public WHY suicide is concluded? Does his family concur with the idea of suicide? Why be so secretive?

[J]

Uh, his hands were bound. How is that a suicide? You might want to update the headline. Otherwise the update is just not quite right.

[Bob Henning]

Suicide? I don`t think so. Why would you go to such a Public Place as LAX then Kill yourself in Private in a Bathroom Stall, The answer is you WOULDN`T.

[Me]

A suicide? so how did he bind his own hands and still manage to put a bag over his own head?

[BurnedOutHippie]

His head covered in a bag and his hands bound? In LA, that's natural cause.

[R]

If law enforcement can't remember any killings inside the airport terminal, they're having some trouble thinking back to July 4, 2002, at the El Al counter in the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

[photog]

Suicide with hands bound and bag over his head??? That's some trick.

[bonita]

suicide?? how do you bind your own hands, put your head in a bag and commite suicide? are the LA police total idiots???? good grief!

[Michael Corleone]

Bound hand?...A suicide?....Hmm, cops getting to lazy to actually do some investigating, or the story is wrong coming out of the news room.

[iDizlee]

Thats pretty scary. Why would the authorities think that it was a suicide if his hands were bound? He couldn't have tied his own hands. Lets say he could tie his own hands, why did he do it? So that he could not stop himself from killing himself?

[Jason W]

How can someone commit suicide with their hands bound??

[John Kipf]

Uh...sure sounds like a suicide to me.

[Caroline]

I hope more people leave L.A.! That would be really nice.

[handsbound]

every post is about the hands being bound and the guy killed himself. so yeah whats up with that?

[Vanessa McGrady]

You could OD on slow-acting drugs and then bind your hands -- say with a ziptie and your teeth -- so you can't reach for your cell phone to call somebody if you change your mind. I'm just saying to reach beyond the obvious.

[David]

Head bagged, hands bound? Please tell me that's a typo or a misprint.

[Probable]

It could be auto-erotic asphyxia. Remember David Carradine?