After a mysterious death, a family’s quest for answers leads to a tick
A JetBlue pilot’s “sudden unexplained death” looked at first like food poisoning.
From The Times
December 5, 2025

A 47-year-old JetBlue pilot went to a barbecue and ate a hamburger. Later that evening, he was vomiting and fell unconscious. Soon after, he was declared dead. The conclusion of his autopsy: “sudden unexplained death.”

Brian Waitzel wears the light blue uniform of a JetBlue pilot while sitting in a cockpit.

More than a year later, doctors linked his death to a growing menace. →

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