NY MAN COMMITTED SUICIDE IN JUMP FROM PLANE
June 9, 2008

DUANESBURG, N.Y. (AP) - A man who jumped from a skydiving plane without a parachute had been asking co-workers if they would rather die by jumping off a building or out of a plane.

Sloan Carafello, 29, was an observer on the plane Saturday and witnesses said he leaped out behind three parachuters at 10,000 feet. Police said Monday that he committed suicide.

Carafello, who lived in Schenectady, recently had unnerved some of his grocery store co-workers by frequently asking them, "If you had to die, would you rather jump off a building or jump out of a plane without a parachute?" Dave Bilili, an assistant manager at the store, told the Times Union of Albany.

Police found Carafello's body next to a house with a damaged roof in a rural town 15 miles west of Albany.

"It could have been one of two things, accident or suicide, and we ruled out accident," state police investigator Mario DiCristofaro said Monday.

DiCristofaro would not provide further details of the investigation. An autopsy Sunday said the cause of death was massive trauma.

Carafello had lived at a YMCA since August, said Louis Magliocca, the residence director. He said investigators searched Carafello's room, but didn't find a suicide note.

Bob Rawlins, who owns the skydiving company and was the pilot Saturday, said Carafello had asked to take a ride so he could take pictures for a school project. A videographer on board captured images of Carafello leaving the plane and turned it over to police.

"It's not the easiest thing to see," DiCristofaro said. "He comes out of the plane and starts falling."

Police said they won't release the video.