Just before his jump last week, veteran skydiver Vitantonio Capotorto sent his wife a video — a terrifying one that sent her racing to the Skydive DeLand building in Florida.
Capotorto, 27, told his wife on the clip that he was not going to pull the cord and that he was "going somewhere wonderful,” police told the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
After Costanza Zitellini rushed to Skyland DeLand on Tuesday morning, she begged employees to stop her husband from jumping, the paper said.
The plane was radioed, WKMG-TV reported — but Capotorto had already jumped from 13,500 feet.
His wife had arrived “moments too late," Mike Johnston, a general manager at the facility, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
DeLand police said an officer was called to Skydive DeLand and was told the experienced skydiver jumped from a plane and did not deploy his parachute, WKMG-TV reported.
Capotorto's body was found in an open field near DeLand Municipal Airport, the station said.
Tara Richards, an employee at Skydive DeLand, told police Capotorto seemed normal before the jump, the News-Journal reported, citing a written statement.
Capotorto had made 600 jumps, the News-Journal reported, adding that he and his wife worked at United Parachute Technologies in DeLand, which makes containers for parachutes, a customer service manager told the paper.
As Capotorto was an Italian national, authorities were reaching out to the Italian consulate to contact his parents, the News-Journal said.
The fatality was the fifth reported at Skydive DeLand — considered one of America's busiest jump spots — since May 2013, the paper said.
This story has been updated.
Dave Urbanski
Sr. Editor, News
