Missing Man's Body Likely Sat in Parking Lot for 8 Months

'How is it possible' no one found him, wife asks
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 18, 2017 6:48 PM CDT
Updated Sep 19, 2017 1:33 AM CDT
Missing Man Was Likely Dead in Airport Parking Lot for Months
Stock photo   (Getty Images / elenaleonova)

Randy Potter left his Kansas home on the morning of January 17 and was never seen alive again. After an eight-month search, during which his family even hired a private investigator, the missing man was finally found—and his family, their lawyer, and the aforementioned PI believe he was dead in his truck in a Kansas City International Airport parking lot the entire time, the Kansas City Star reports. Police were called to KCI after someone reported a foul odor coming from the truck Tuesday; they found a decomposed body inside and later identified it as Potter. Officials say he appears to have committed suicide. His family wants answers: They visited the airport looking for Potter within a week of reporting him missing, and airport authorities assured them security officers would find his vehicle if it was parked there.

They left his license plate number and a description of his vehicle, the Washington Post reports, and authorities told them security officers checked the lots regularly; yet no one checked the truck, which was parked in a lot accessible via a short shuttle ride from the airport terminals, until the odor was reported. "How is it possible, in America?" Potter's wife said Friday at a press conference. "A truck sitting there for eight months? He could have been found a lot sooner if everybody had done their job." The family's lawyer says he's working with them to determine "what happened and why," and "to try to make sure that this doesn’t happen again to somebody." A city spokesperson says the city and its Aviation Department are "working ... to determine the facts involved." Potter was 53. (More suicide stories.)

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