Family: Skydive was birthday gift for NLV woman - FOX5 Vegas - KVVU

Family: Skydive was birthday gift for NLV woman

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Claudette Porter died after the parachutes attached to her and her instructor failed to deploy. Claudette Porter died after the parachutes attached to her and her instructor failed to deploy.
NORTH LAS VEGAS, NV (FOX5) -

A 75-year-old North Las Vegas woman was skydiving for the first time when she was killed during a jump Sunday, her family told FOX5.

Claudette Porter and her instructor, 60-year-old James Fonnesbeck, died when their parachutes failed to open as they fell to the ground in the town of Mesquite.

The jump was a gift from Porter's family, who said she had wanted to skydive since she was a little girl.

STORY: Instructor, student identified in Nevada skydiving tragedy

Porter and her husband, James, had been married for more than 50 years. She and Fonnesbeck had trained for the jump, and investigators are currently trying to determine what went wrong.

Fonnesbeck had three decades of skydiving experience, and was one of the skydiving Elvis impersonators in the 1992 comedy "Honeymoon in Vegas." 

FOX5's Les Krifaton talked with Porter's family. You can see the interview Monday on FOX5 News at 5 p.m.

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