Pictures have emerged of the American Airlines flight attendant who was found dead in a Marriott hotel room at Philadelphia airport, with a cloth in her mouth, two days after she was supposed to check out. An investigation has been launched and the case is being treated as a homicide, the Philadelphia Police Department announced Thursday.
The victim has been identified as Diana Ramos, a 66-year-old resident of Las Vegas, who was found unresponsive by the cleaning staff at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott on Monday evening. Later, medics arrived at the scene and pronounced her dead around 10:40 p.m., according to police.
Innocent Soul Lost
Ramos was found with "a cloth" in her mouth, as confirmed by Philadelphia Police spokesperson Shawn Ritchie. The investigation is currently being carried out by the Homicide Detectives Division, and as of Thursday afternoon, no additional details have been disclosed by the police.
Questions on the nature of death have been raised following the discovery of Ramos' body.
Chief Inspector Scott Small of the Philadelphia Police Department mentioned that Ramos suffered "a sudden death" and it was "suspicious".
Sealed prescription bottles were found inside the room, suggesting that she was on multiple medications, according to sources cited by 6ABC. The exact cause of her death has not been determined yet.
The police reported that there were no indications of forced entry, signs of struggle, or weapons found in Ramos's room.
"Everybody is still trying to figure out what happened and why her crew just left her," an unidentified American Airlines flight attendant told People.
"A lot of moving parts and questions right now," the person added, "Very sad."
Long Association With American Airlines
In one of the photos, Ramos, a veteran of 25 years with American Airlines, can be seen smiling in her American Airlines uniform. She was on a layover in Philadelphia following her duty on a flight originating from her crew's base in Los Angeles.
American Airlines said their staff "are devastated by this news" in a statement released before Ramos was identified.
"Our thoughts are with the family and colleagues, and we're doing everything we can to ensure all affected have the support they need during this difficult time."
"We will continue to cooperate fully with local law enforcement in their investigation," they added.
Ramos's body has been taken to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy, but as of Thursday, the results have not been made public.
The Philadelphia police are treating the case as a potential homicide, and no arrests have been made at this time.
The circumstances regarding why Ramos's flight crew left her behind remain unclear.
The news of her death has deeply affected social media users, particularly those from the industry, and has been described as both stirring and horrifying.
"We would never leave a crew member behind. We would always call and check on them even knock on their hotel door," a former American Airlines flight attendant wrote.
"We need to take better care of each other. The same way we are trained to work together, have each other's back in case "stuff" goes down...We must do better," wrote another person.
