Links Between Crash, Suicide Ruled Out

A U.S. team investigating the plane crash that killed Commerce Secretary Ron Brown focused on the Dubrovnik airport’s navigation system Monday, and ruled out any link between the crash and the suicide of the system’s maintenance chief.

Niko Jerkic shot himself in the chest at his home Saturday, three days after Brown’s plane slammed into a hilltop near Dubrovnik in a windy rainstorm, killing all 35 people aboard. Brown and a group of U.S. business leaders were looking into business and investment opportunities in the Balkans.

The Croatian Interior Ministry issued a statement Monday saying Jerkic was not working Wednesday, the day of the crash.