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On March 7, 2024, 33-year-old JetBlue pilot Jeremy Gudorf from Ohio — who had an outstanding warrant out for his arrest stemming from charges in North Carolina and was considered a fugitive — died by suicide in Revere, Massachusetts, according to authorities.
Members from the Revere Police Department, State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section, and U.S. Marshals found Gudorf sitting inside his vehicle on Friday morning at the third level of the Wonderland MBTA Station parking garage in Revere. As the troopers approached the vehicle, Gudorf abruptly pulled out a firearm and shot himself. First-aid measures were immediately performed and emergency medical personnel transported him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Wonderland MBTA Station was temporarily shut down due to the incident.
Gudorf’s death comes just weeks after his arrest at Logan International Airport. On Feb. 20, he was scheduled to pilot a flight from Boston to Paris but was taken into custody moments before departure. According to reports, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Massachusetts State Police conducted a routine review of the flight’s manifest and discovered that Gudorf had an active warrant in Huntsville, North Carolina, for second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. He was also listed as a fugitive from justice in Massachusetts.
JetBlue issued a statement after the arrest, saying that they were closely monitoring the case against their employee. “The pilot has been placed on an indefinite leave as law enforcement proceeds with the matter,” they said at that time. After Gudorf’s death, they released a new statement offering condolences. “This is a tragic situation, and our hearts go out to all those affected,” the airline stated, adding they would continue to cooperate with law enforcement in any way necessary.
The investigation that led to Gudorf’s charges began in October 2024, when the Huntsville Police Department received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Authorities launched an investigation on the matter that included a search warrant for Google, which provided crucial information that led to the identification of Gudorf as “the source of the reported images.” According to the police department’s media release, Gudorf lived in Huntsville when the crime occurred but had since moved out of state. No further details about the nature of the crime have been disclosed.
During his arraignment after his arrest, the prosecutor asked the judge for Gudorf to be held without bail and surrender his passport, deeming him a flight risk due to his work as a commercial pilot. Gudorf’s defense lawyer, however, argued that her client won’t easily “be able to just run away” from his serious charges. Ultimately, Gudorf was held on a $10,000 bail but wasn’t asked to give up his passport on the condition that he return to North Carolina to face his charges by Feb. 25, which per reports, he failed to do so.
Former state trooper and law enforcement and security analyst Todd McGhee told NBC 10 Boston, “Law enforcement really needs to have the perspective that a person that is on the run is also a desperate person… We never want to see anyone with a loss of life, whether it’s a victim or perpetrator. We want perpetrators to be accountable for the crimes they commit.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. A list of international crisis resources can be found here.