Investigators: No foul play in HP plane suicide

"A suicide appears to be the strong likelihood," a source close to the investigation said.

The source told the Associated Press that family had urged Otto to seek counseling. Friends described Otto as despondent after a recent move to San Francisco from Europe.

FBI spokesman Andrew Black said that though no one saw the woman open the door as the small plane flew between Sacramento and San Jose, it did not release accidentally and someone would have to use all their might to pry it ajar.

Sacramento police found Otto's body in a community vegetable garden on Friday afternoon.

The Sacramento County coroner's office identified her as a 31-year-old San Francisco resident. Hewlett-Packard said she was 29, a Dutch citizen from HP's Germany office who recently began working at the company's Palo Alto and Roseville offices in the purchasing department.

Otto moved to the San Francisco Bay area with her husband, Michael, within the last three months.

The FBI said two passengers who saw Otto fall from the plane were so distraught they could not tell pilots what had happened. Police were not notified she was missing until 45 minutes after the plane landed in San Jose just after 6 p.m. Thursday.

The 15-seat plane, a de Havilland Twin Otter, was carrying five passengers and two pilots when it left Lincoln Regional Airport in Roseville, northeast of Sacramento, late Thursday afternoon.

Soon after takeoff, the plane had to make an emergency landing because a warning light indicated the door was unlocked. The plane landed at the Sacramento Executive Airport and took off again at 5:20 p.m. after the door was secured.

Three minutes later, some 2,000 feet just south of Sacramento, Otto was at the open door.

"When that plane hatch was opened, the passenger immediately in front of her turned around and observed a female passenger halfway out of the plane," Black said. "He lunged over the seat, reached for her and was able to grab hold of her shoulder and attempted to pull her back into the plane."

Amid what had to be a chaotic scene, the co-pilot managed to close the door, Black said. But the crew didn't realize Otto was gone and continued on to San Jose, where the plane landed at 6:05 p.m.

Police were called about 45 minutes later.

Meanwhile, in the company's hangar, paramedics tried to calm Otto's husband who was waiting to meet his wife.

"He was saying, 'Where's my wife? Does anyone know what's happened to my wife?"' said San Jose Fire Capt. Mark Mooney, who arrived soon after paramedics. "It was just a strange scene, because no one was saying anything."

Reached at his home Friday night, Michael Otto was overwhelmed.

"It's too personal for me," he told the San Francisco Chronicle. "It's all so much to deal with, so much. I have to deal with my wife's death and funeral right now."

FAA inspectors determined that mechanical malfunction had not caused the door to open, spokesman Jerry Snyder said. The FAA also said inspectors did not believe the pilot erred in continuing to San Jose after securing the door a second time.

The Ottos lived in an upscale San Francisco neighborhood in a large 3-unit white Victorian house with green trim. The couple did not have any children.

"They seemed very nice. They appeared to be very hard working," neighbor Travis Pearson said. "They weren't around a lot."<