Stefanie Smith Indiana mom of two dies mysteriously on board American Airlines flight while returning from Dominican Republic as family now awaits autopsy report.
Authorities have yet to understand what led to a ‘healthy’ Indiana mom of two ‘suddenly’ dying on board an American Airlines plane while returning home from a trip to the Dominican Republic.
Stefanie Smith, 41, and an un-named boyfriend along with another couple were returning from the Caribbean getaway, February 28, when she fell fatally ill just minutes into flight 2790 from Punta Cana to Charlotte, North Carolina.
The American Airlines flight was diverted to the Turks and Caicos islands as CPR was performed, but Smith was declared dead after being taken to hospital.
Many unknowns
The airline said that the flight continued its journey to Charlotte the following day.
Of note, the episode comes 3 weeks after a 63 year old German passenger on board a Lufthansa flight returning from Thailand dying mid-flight after copious amounts of ‘blood erupting from his mouth and nose.’
A sudden aneurism is believed to have led to the 63 year old’s sudden demise.
‘Everyone’s in shock, just waiting for news,’ her brother Chris Volz told the nypost ‘there are still a lot of unknowns.’
The IUPUI graduate worked as an X-ray technician at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, and her sudden death has devastated friends and colleagues.
‘I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt heartache like this,’ wrote friend Kristina Swinney on Facebook in a since removed post.
Autopsy to be performed
‘Looking to my left today, seeing you gone, knowing you aren’t coming back has left me a mess, Stef.
‘The news today has shattered us.’
A Gofundme appeal to raise money for her two teenage children Coen and Macee had raised $79,500 as of Wednesday night, including contributions from passengers who were on her last fatal flight.
‘I didn’t know Stefanie but I was in the row in front of her,’ wrote Erika Remillard-Hagen.
‘When I was 41 my own two children were the same age hers are. My heart breaks for her family.’
Swinney, a fellow medic at the Memorial Hospital, wrote of the impact her friend made on the lives of those she knew.
‘Today we talked about how you wouldn’t let anyone have a bad day,’ she said on Facebook, ‘you weren’t having any part of it.
First responders met the aircraft on the tarmac when it arrived at Providenciales International Airport, and The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands released more details in a statement on their Facebook page.
‘At 6.12 pm, the Police Control Room received a call from the Air Traffic Control Tower requesting medical assistance for a 41-year-old female, who at the time was receiving Cardiopulmonary resuscitation,’ they wrote.
‘A medical team, along with police units, were dispatched, and the patient was transported to Cheshire Hall Medical Centre, where she died.’
Smith had gone through a divorce recently from husband Eric, the father of their two children.
Coen and Macee are being looked after by their dad and other family members as they try to reckon with their grief.
Family members said that no-one in the family was aware of Smith having any pre-existing conditions before she flew down to the Caribbean on February 24.
‘There are still a lot of unknowns,’ brother Chris Volz said.
The family is sending its own doctor to the Caribbean to conduct an autopsy before Smith’s body is brought back to Indianapolis for a celebration-of-life ceremony on Sunday.
