JetBlue Pilot Facing Child Exploitation Charges Dies by Suicide as Police Close In.
Jeremy Gudorf, a 33-year-old JetBlue pilot, took his own life on Friday, March 7, as law enforcement officers closed in to arrest him for a second time on child exploitation charges.
Gudorf shot himself inside his car at the Wonderland station of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Revere. Massachusetts State Police troopers, along with Revere police and US Marshals, had been tracking him down when the incident occurred, according to NBC10 Boston. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Authorities had been searching for Gudorf, a resident of Xenia, Ohio, following his initial arrest at Boston’s Logan International Airport on February 20. He was preparing to pilot a flight to Paris when US Customs and Border Protection officers discovered an outstanding warrant from North Carolina for second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Gudorf was immediately removed from the aircraft and taken into custody.
A federal judge in Boston granted him bail at $10,000, under the condition that he surrender to authorities in North Carolina. It’s unclear whether he ever complied with that order.
On the morning of March 7, as officers from the Massachusetts State Police’s Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section approached Gudorf’s vehicle at Wonderland station, he reportedly produced a firearm and shot himself without warning, MSP spokesperson Tim McGuirk told WCVB.
Gudorf also faced an additional charge in Massachusetts as a fugitive from justice. His sudden death has left lingering questions about how his case was handled and whether further action could have been taken to prevent the tragic outcome.
