Rust, tape found where cable broke in fatal fall

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Rust and duct tape were found at the point where a climbing wall safety cable snapped earlier this week, dropping a Jefferson City woman about 25 feet to her death, according to court documents.

Christine Ewing, 22, died Tuesday after falling the night before while descending the 30-foot wall outside a Mid-Missouri Mavericks minor-league baseball game at Taylor Stadium, home to the University of Missouri's baseball team.

"This wire was approximately three feet long, with a rubber hose covering the safety clip," University of Missouri Police Sgt. Shawn Spalding said in a police affidavit filed in Boone County Circuit Court. "A knife was used to cut back the rubber hose, to expose the cable. The cable appeared to be rusted. There was duct tape covering the point of break on the cable. The cable was collected as evidence."

Spalding said the wall might have been used in the commission of crimes, including involuntary manslaughter and illegal operation of an amusement ride. The portable wall and the trailer on which it is mounted were also seized from Columbia Climbing Gym by university police.

No arrests have been made as federal, state and university investigators continue to study what caused the cable to break.

The employee operating the climbing wall when Ewing fell "stated that around one third of the way down, the wire holding Ewing broke. Ewing landed on her head and suffered severe head trauma," Spalding wrote in his affidavit.

The trailer is registered in Ohio, where -- unlike Missouri -- portable climbing walls are not licensed as amusement rides.

"We just license them as a concession, so it would be the same as any midway game," said Melanie Wilt, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

In Ohio, amusement rides and concession devices must be licensed and inspected annually, but a concession device is "not inspected as rigorously," Wilt said.

Neither Columbia Climbing Gym nor its owner, Marcus Floyd, are licensed in Ohio, although the portable wall might be licensed under a different company or the name of another owner, Wilt said.

Randy Cole, assistant state fire marshal, said the climbing wall was not licensed in Missouri, although it should have been.

A phone message left at the Columbia Climbing Gym on Saturday was not immediately returned.