Capotorto Vitantonio, 27, was a professional Skydiver. However when he headed off to Skydive DeLand Tuesday for a jump, he was planning for it to be his last. His wife, 25-year-old Costanza Zitelleni, panicked when she received a video message from her husband saying he wasn’t planning on pulling the ripcord during the jump and was “going somewhere wonderful.” His body was found face down in a field near the runway.
Wife receives horrifying message from her skydiving husband
According to his wife, Vitantonio appeared perfectly normal when he left that morning for a jump at Skydive DeLand.
However, shortly after he left home she received the horrifying message that her husband was planning to kill himself. He told his wife that he was not planning to pull the ripcord and was "going somewhere wonderful."
As reported by the Orlando Sentinel, Zitelleni realized her husband was planning on committing suicide and rushed to Skydive DeLand, running into the hangar trying desperately to stop her husband from jumping. However, she found the plane had already left. Zitelleni asked employee Tara Richards to halt her husband’s jump. Richard immediately contacted the pilot of the plane via radio, only to be told that Vitantonio had already jumped from the aircraft. After the incident, Richards also said Vitantonio appeared normal prior to his jump.
Police thought a skydiver died in an accident - until they saw his final message to his wife https://t.co/C4tV0Ty51Z pic.twitter.com/ft10mXHGSz
— NDTV (@ndtv) July 16, 2017
Officials search for Vitantonio, finding him in a field
Employees immediately called the police who began a search for Vitantonio both on the ground and from the sky and eventually found the skydiver lying face down and dead in an open field close to the runway.
Officials called a chaplain to the scene to tell Zitelleni of her husband’s death. According to authorities, the skydiver had fallen 13,500 feet to his death.
A spokesman for Skydive DeLand told the Washington Post that they offer their deepest sympathy to Vitantonio’s family and friends. The spokesman went on to say the professional skydiver was not affiliated with Skydive DeLand, but was a licensed skydiver who had received the appropriate training for solo jumps.
The spokesman pointed out that he had paid for his Tuesday jump from the plane. Vitantonio was an Italian national and worked for United Parachute Technologies since September 2016, which is also based in DeLand.
21 fatalities out of 3.2 million jumps
Vitantonio’s suicide is reportedly the fifth death within four years at the skydiving center. Skydive DeLand is a member of the United States Parachute Association, who reported 21 skydiving fatalities during 2016 out of an estimated 3.2 million jumps by members.
As noted by the Post, Vitantonio’s Facebook page displays many photos showing him skydiving, either in tandem dives or solo, while wearing a GoPro camera.
