Brian Hedglin was a SkyWest Airlines pilot who, in July 2012, became the prime suspect in the stabbing death of his girlfriend in Colorado Springs and then, four days later, scaled the perimeter fence at a small Utah airport, started a parked regional jet, crashed it into a rental-car lot while trying to taxi, and killed himself in the cabin with a self-inflicted gunshot.
Who Brian Hedglin Was
Hedglin was 40 years old at the time of his death. He graduated with honors from Willmar High School in Willmar, Minnesota, in 1990, where he had been student council president and senior class president.1West Central Tribune. Willmar 1990 Graduate Found Dead After Attempted Plane Theft in Utah and Suspected Colorado Homicide He moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota, after high school and planned to study aviation at the University of North Dakota.2Park Rapids Enterprise. Former Grand Forks Resident, Murder Suspect Found Dead in Plane
He joined SkyWest Airlines in 2005 and had flown the Bombardier CRJ200 regional jet many times as a rated captain.3Online Athens. SkyWest Pilot Takes Jarring Ride in Stolen Plane On the side, Hedglin was a part-time soldier in the Colorado National Guard, where he worked as a cook. He had no specialized military training and was never deployed.4CBS News. Murder Suspect Brian Hedglin’s Security Breach at Utah Airport to Steal Plane Raises Safety Concerns
His Relationship With Christina Cornejo
Hedglin had dated Christina Cornejo for four years.5Denver Post. Colorado Springs Homicide Suspect Dated and Harassed Victim, Records Show Cornejo, 39, was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Colorado Army National Guard and a mother of four. She had joined the Guard in 2006 and was working with the 100th Missile Defense Brigade in Colorado Springs at the time of her death.6Colorado Springs Gazette. Murder Victim Was Mother, National Guard Officer
The relationship had already drawn police attention. In March 2012, Hedglin was arrested for harassing Cornejo after entering her apartment, taking back items he had given her, and smashing her computer and printer.5Denver Post. Colorado Springs Homicide Suspect Dated and Harassed Victim, Records Show A restraining order was issued. He posted a $10,000 bond and was facing misdemeanor charges of criminal mischief, theft, and harassment, with trial set for August 2012. Felony charges tied to the incident had already been dismissed.4CBS News. Murder Suspect Brian Hedglin’s Security Breach at Utah Airport to Steal Plane Raises Safety Concerns
The Killing in Colorado Springs
On Friday, July 13, 2012, Colorado Springs police went to Cornejo’s apartment on the 1000 block of Cheyenne Villas Point for a welfare check requested by a relative who was worried about her safety. They found her stabbed to death inside. It was ruled a homicide, the 13th in the city that year.6Colorado Springs Gazette. Murder Victim Was Mother, National Guard Officer Hedglin was named the primary suspect, and an alert for him went out the next day.7NBC News. Feds: Murder Suspect Tries to Steal Plane, Crashes, Then Kills Self
Investigators contacted SkyWest the same day and asked the airline to deactivate Hedglin’s access cards. The company placed him on administrative leave.8Denver Post. Utah Jetliner Theft Unprecedented, Pilots Say Cornejo’s memorial service, held on July 18, drew nearly 200 people. Major General H. Michael Edwards, commander of the Colorado National Guard, called her a “stellar soldier” and a “fantastic young leader.”9U.S. Army. Brigade Honors Untimely Death of One of Their Own
The Stolen Jet at St. George Municipal Airport
Around 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 17, 2012, Hedglin rode a motorcycle to St. George Municipal Airport in southern Utah.10ABC News. Man Crashed Plane in Utah Wanted for Girlfriend’s Killing, SkyWest He threw a rug over the razor wire topping the airport’s six-mile perimeter fence, climbed over, and walked to an empty, out-of-service SkyWest CRJ200 parked on the tarmac.4CBS News. Murder Suspect Brian Hedglin’s Security Breach at Utah Airport to Steal Plane Raises Safety Concerns
His access cards had been deactivated, but commercial aircraft are not locked the way a car is. A trained pilot who can physically reach one can board, power it up, and operate it without a key or badge. SkyWest spokeswoman Marissa Snow said starting the aircraft “involves sophisticated procedures and requires an extensive amount of training,” and that an inexperienced person could not have done it.4CBS News. Murder Suspect Brian Hedglin’s Security Breach at Utah Airport to Steal Plane Raises Safety Concerns Hedglin, a rated captain on the CRJ200, had the skill to do it alone.
He started the engines and tried to back the plane off the jet bridge using reverse thrust.11CNN. Utah Plane Incident The left wing clipped the jet bridge and scraped the terminal, and the aircraft veered left. It kept going through a perimeter fence and into the airport’s rental-car lot, damaging 14 vehicles and destroying light poles and fencing.12ABC News. Video Shows Murder Suspect Crashing Plane Into Parking Lot The jet never left the ground.
A police officer on a perimeter patrol had already found an idling motorcycle outside the fence. While looking for its owner, he discovered the aircraft with its engines running.4CBS News. Murder Suspect Brian Hedglin’s Security Breach at Utah Airport to Steal Plane Raises Safety Concerns SkyWest employees were called in to shut down the engines. They found Hedglin dead in the passenger cabin from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.11CNN. Utah Plane Incident
What the Breach Exposed
St. George officials said the airport met existing FAA and TSA security requirements, but acknowledged the six-mile perimeter was not under constant monitoring. City spokesman Marc Mortenson told reporters, “I would dare say it isn’t at any airport in the country.”13SF Gate. Utah Airport Breach Raises Safety Issues The TSA said it was reviewing perimeter compliance at the airport.14San Antonio Express-News. Airport Security Scrutinized After Utah Breach Aviation security expert Jeff Price said the aircraft should have been “locked and secured if it wasn’t in use.”
Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz pointed to more than a million airport identification badges in circulation as a “very unique security risk,” saying that “once somebody is able to get into the system, they have access to every part of the system.”15Deseret News. St. George Incident Shows Airports Need More Security, Chaffetz Says He had chaired a House subcommittee hearing on airport perimeter security a year earlier, citing a 2009 GAO report that found 87 percent of airports had not received threat vulnerability assessments and that no “unifying national strategy” existed for the perimeters of the country’s 457 commercial airports.16GovInfo. TSA Oversight Part 2: Airport Perimeter Security No legislation specifically targeting perimeter security followed the St. George incident. A similar insider-access theft happened again in August 2018, when a ground-service employee at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport took a Horizon Air turboprop.17U.S. Government Accountability Office. Airport Perimeter and Access Control Security
How the Case Ended
SkyWest painted over its logos on the damaged CRJ200, an industry practice for aircraft involved in incidents, according to Snow.8Denver Post. Utah Jetliner Theft Unprecedented, Pilots Say The airline declined to discuss any changes to its security procedures while investigations by local, state, and federal authorities were open.
Because Hedglin died before he could be charged in Cornejo’s murder, no criminal case against him moved forward. As of the last available reporting, Colorado Springs detectives were still working to “tie up all the loose ends” and confirm his responsibility for the killing.6Colorado Springs Gazette. Murder Victim Was Mother, National Guard Officer