"Oh my God, I'm Going To Die"
He may have struck twice -- the killer who disabled the
equipment of British parachutist Stephen Hilder. The UK
enthusiast plunged to his death in July during a skydiving
competition (ANN: "It Wasn't Parachute Failure" -- 06
July 2003).
Now comes word from the London Daily Telegraph that
British investigators are looking into the death of an American
skydiver whose rig may also have intentionally been set to
fail.
Cary Hopwood
(right) survived his 75 mph impact with the ground in 1996.
The Hopwood and Hilder cases bear chilling similarities.
Authorities in both investigations say those same similarities
could provide a breakthrough on both sides of the Atlantic.
Hopwood was skydiving in Fayette County (IL) when his chute
failed. He has only partially recovered from the accident -- er,
murder attempt. Fayette Sheriff Harold Johnson got a tip about
July's fatal incident in Britain and is now intent on sharing
information with Scotland Yard.
"Because of the similarities, the English authorities contacted
me and one of the things we are looking into is to see if we have a
common suspect," said Sheriff Johnson. Humberside police, who are
investigating Mr. Hilder's murder, said that they too were
considering the possibility that the incidents were linked.
"There was nothing extraordinary in Stephen Hilder's (pictured
below, right) private life, no love rivalries or anything," said a
police spokesman. "That is why we are looking at the case of
Hopwood. It's not dissimilar and it would be foolish to rule out
anything, including that they could be connected."
US Deputy Marshall John Andrews witnessed Hopwood's near fatal
fall. He's certain there must be a connection with Hilder's death.
"I had seen it happen and thought it was an accident, but then I
got a call that night to say that it was attempted murder," said
Andrews, himself a skydiver.
"Cary had been equipped
with a video camera on his helmet to film the jump for the MTV
channel and when you watched it, you could see what had
happened."
Hopwood's father, Bill, said the video "shows him opening his
chute, pulling the ripcord and the pilot chute just floated
away."
In fact, it was later established that the main bridle had been
carefully chopped in two. He deployed his reserve (chute) and one
riser [the webbing that attaches the canopy to the main
harness] had been cut. It should have just spiraled into the
ground, but it inflated enough that it held him. You can
see his hands reaching up grabbing and he says: 'Oh my God, I'm
gonna die'. He's trying to reach up and you can see the cords
fluttering. Then he hits the ground and the camera goes thud. It's
horrible."
The younger Hopwood was, significantly, not wearing his own
chute that day. Instead, the parachute that failed belonged to a
man named Kirk Verner. Verner, a world champion skydiver, is the
son of Dave Verner, the owner of a sky diving center in Vandalia
(IL). A problem with Hopwood's own equipment led him to borrow
Verner's. That makes police suspect it was Verner who had been the
intended victim.
Sheriff Johnson believed only someone who knew a lot about
parachuting could have sabotaged Hopwood's rig. He asked several
skydivers to take lie detector tests, which they did and which they
passed.
Two, however, declined to take the polygraph exams. One was
Daniel Wright, a former employee at the skydiving center. His
refusal, together with the fact that he had resigned under
less-than-friendly circumstances, made him the main suspect.
The other man who
refused to take a polygraph, surprisingly, was Kirk Verner. Andrews
said, "After it happened, Kirk was terrified that someone was
trying to kill him. He and his wife went home and barricaded
themselves in. He was afraid someone was going to come for him with
an assault rifle. The next day he had totally changed. It was as if
he had come to an arrangement with whoever it was who was after
him, but I know for a fact that he did not speak to the main
suspect."
A year after the Hopwood incident, another skydiver in Tennessee
found that his equipment had also been tampered with.
Charlie Mullins, a 25-year-old champion parachutist with almost
6,000 jumps under his belt "moves in the same circle" as Kirk
Verner. In 1997, he was about to jump at his father's school in
west Tennessee when a last minute check showed that the riser on
his parachute had been cut.
Mullins' stepmother, Andrea, told the Telegraph,
"Someone had used a knife or scissors and then put the riser back.
When Charlie realized, he freaked out. His best friend had been
jumping with it only just before. We have no idea at all who did
it. Skydivers don't tend to say bad things about each other, it's
very taboo, but I have heard some people saying that they can't
stand Charlie. It's the fact maybe that he gets to jump for free
because his daddy owns the airplane. We are super paranoid now. I
never leave my rig out unattended."
Bill Hopwood said police were reluctant to investigate his son's
case. "Everybody thought it was just another stupid skydiver who
had had a bad landing, because he survived. The only time that they
got anything was when my son had recuperated and he went over there
and raised a little Cain and tried to talk to the police. He was a
guy from out of state, a poor old guy from Kentucky and they didn't
care. They just dropped it. He had brain damage and his whole right
side, arm, elbow has been pieced together with metal. Today he's
not the same, he can't remember anything. But he's alive."