Women Tried to Check in Man for Flight Hours After His Death

LONDON, April 9, 2010 — -- Postmortem results show that Curt Willi Jarant, the dead man whose wife and stepdaughter tried to check him in for a weekend flight from Liverpool, England, to Berlin, died up to 12 hours before airport officials pronounced him dead, British police said today.

The pathologist who conducted the postmortem exam "concluded the man died of natural causes," police said.

The two women, Germans who live in Manchester, England, have been released on bail until June 1, a Manchester police official said.

They face possible charges for "failing to give notification of death," according to police, who are investigating whether the women conspired to avoid repatriation costs with an unusual tactic.

As Jarant, 91, appeared to slump in his wheelchair, an airport worker, who helped lift Jarant's body out of a cab and into a wheelchair, immediately suspected that he was dead. Andrew Millea told the BBC that Jarant's body was "ice cold," adding, "I knew straight away that the man was dead, but they reassured me that he 'always sleeps like that.'"

Millea then informed the airport's security staff of his suspicions, while the passengers waited in the check-in line. An examination revealed that Jarant was dead.

Gitta Jarant, 66, and Anke Anusic, 41, Jarant's wife and stepdaughter, told the BBC that they had no knowledge of the former pilot's death when they arrived at the airport. "We had checked his temperature and checked his well-being," Anusic said, "He was warm and wasn't in an emergency situation."

She said Jarant, who battled Alzheimer's, was wearing sunglasses to hide an unsightly eye and avoid the stares of fellow passengers.