St. Louis woman attempts to steal jet, fly to China

KSDK-TV, St. Louis

Show Caption Hide Caption Woman tries to steal plane, passes airport security A woman is being questioned after she broke into a corporate jet at the St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia, Illinois in an attempt to steal the plane and fly it to China.

CAHOKIA, Ill. — A St. Louis woman is being questioned after she sneaked onto the St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia tarmac and broke into a corporate jet early Wednesday morning.

Sauget, Ill. Police Chief Patrick Delaney says the 38-year-old woman broke into the jet because she said she wanted to fly to China. The FBI, TSA and Homeland Security are all investigating the incident.

The unnamed woman was able to get past manned security gates in her vehicle before boarding the jet. Chief Delaney says she entered an unlocked corporate jet owned by a Hong Kong bank.

Once inside, Jet aviation employees saw the woman attempting to start the plane, but the battery was disconnected due to maintenance.

The suspect has no criminal history, but police are concerned about her mental state.

While the federal agencies involved investigate and consider what charges she may face, local authorities are trying to find out how the woman was able to get past airport security.

"For some reason, and we're still looking into this, she was allowed access into the facility where she parked her car in the parking lot. She had to go through two gates and was able to talk onto the tarmac," said Delaney.

The name of the suspect will be released when and if charges are filed. Locally, she could be facing trespassing or burglary charges. Chief Delaney says she may be referred for a psychiatric evaluation given her state of mind. There was no damage caused to the jet.