Mays was found unresponsive by his wife in his Odessa, Florida, home on the morning of June 28, 2009. He was then pronounced dead at 7:45 am, appearing to have died sometime overnight.[2][3][15] The Associated Press reported that there were no indications that the house had been broken into, and that police did not suspect foul play.[15]
On June 27, Mays had been aboard US Airways Flight 1241,[16] which landed roughly when its front tires were blown out. The violence of the landing caused some loose objects in the cabin to strike some passengers. Mays told a local Tampa television station that some of the objects “hit me on the head, but I got a hard head.” It is unclear whether Mays’ death was related to the incident. His wife noted that he felt unwell when he went to bed that night early at 10 pm. The next morning he was pronounced dead at 7:45 am by a local fire rescue crew.[15]
