U.S. Airways Flight Attendant Slain

U.S. Airways flight attendant slain in Mexico City; arrest reported. (2011). LA Times.

Retrieved November 1, 2011 at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/11/us-airways-flight-attendant.html

Mexico City is a notoriously crime-ridden city because of its central location in the international drug wars. Many Americans have lost their lives, including innocent tourists, when they have been 'caught in the crossfire' of gang warfare. However, according to the November 1, 2011 article entitled "U.S. Airways flight attendant slain in Mexico City; arrest reported" in the LA Times, one of the most recent grisly crimes in Mexico City was not attributed to drug use, but to robbery. During a layover, the crew of a U.S. Airways flight stayed in a Mexico City hotel. A flight attendant, Nick Aaronson, 33, was found dead by his fellow flight attendants in his room. The body was face-down and naked. A belt was around Aaronson's neck; another belt was around his thighs. He had apparently been beaten to death.

A suspect was detained through the use of hotel surveillance video and the GPS in Aaronson's stolen iPhone. Robbery, not drug violence is assumed to be the likely cause of the murder. The victim's luggage was strewn around the room, and no weapons or drugs were found nearby. The cause of this crime is still uncertain. But its origin could simply be traced to the fact that Mexico City is an area of great disparities in wealth. There is a chasm between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' of the city. Crime is often very common in areas where people are desperate and have few stable social ties.

There has, however, been a recent spate of drug-related crimes in Mexico. This crime is not apparently linked to drugs. But in a drug-infested area, even non-drug related crimes can become more common because of the culture of violence that takes hold. This is suggested by the ritualistic nature of how the robbery victim was killed, in a degrading and inhuman fashion that is far beyond the usual, expected method of committing such a crime.

According to the local news, the victim's mother has posted updates on the status of her son's crime on Facebook. The airline's spokesperson stated that Aaronson was a well-loved member of the crew. The crime was not apparently a vendetta against the airline, although all members of the crew have been relocated to another, undisclosed hotel for safety reasons. According to the article, there was no security breach at the hotel. However, clearly some kind of 'laxness' must be at the root of the violation, given that not only was the criminal able to enter into the area of the hotel where guests remained, but no one was alerted by the sounds of the violent crime, which must have been extremely loud, given the brutality of the death.