Ruslana Korshunova: Russian Supermodel Commits Suicide
Posted on June 28, 2008
Ruslana Korshunova, a 20 year-old Russian supermodel, plummets to her death in an apparent suicide, from her ninth floor apartment in lower Manhattan.
Truly heart-breaking news, the long-haired beauty, Ruslana Korshunova, 20, apparently jumped to her death into the middle of busy Water St. in the Financial District around 2:30 p.m.
The witnesses to the apparent suicide saw the barefoot woman, dressed in blue jeans and a purple tank top, and noticed her beauty immediately, although they did not realize at the time she was a world-famous model.
Steve Metzger, a witness, said “All I saw was something moving out of the corner of my eye, and then boom. It sounded like a bass drum when she hit the ground,” he said. “She was a pretty girl.”
Investigators on the scene believe Korshunova jumped from her ninth-floor apartment adjacent to a skyscraper construction site.
“I turned around just as she was about 3 feet off the ground and then, boom, she hit,” said witness Ahmed Saad, 22, who was running a nearby food cart.
Another eyewitness, a stunned Con Ad worker said, “I heard what sounded like a gunshot or a bomb or an explosion.”
“I looked down the street, and I say to the cop, ‘Did that person just get hit by a car?’ ” said the worker, who identified himself only as Patrick, 32, of Brooklyn.
The two men raced over. “Her arms were crushed,” Patrick said. “Her head was on the left side and blood was coming out in a pool.”
Police stated there were no signs of struggle in her apartment.
The window from which she fell had a balcony, which had construction netting around it that appeared to have been cut.
Mahmoud Nakeeb, 45, the doorman of the building, said he arrived for work about 4 p.m. to find Korshunova’s sheet-covered body in the middle of Water Street.
“She’s a very sweet girl. She was always smiling. I never see her depressed,” Nakeeb said. Ruslana Korshunova had moved there only two months ago, renting the one-bedroom apartment, from the condo owner, he said.
A friend of Korshunova’s said she had just returned from a modeling gig in Paris and Ruslana seemed to be “on top of the world.”
“There were no signs,” he said. “That’s what’s driving me crazy. I don’t see one reason why she would do that.”
Ruslana Korshunova was born July 2, 1987 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Police said initial reports indicate no criminality was involved, but they could not confirm the cause of her death until a medical examiner performed an autopsy.
UPDATE: Ruslana Korshunova’s death was ruled as a definite suicide. Posts on a website tell of her sadness, you can view them here.
You can see a tribute video to Ruslana Korshunova here.
Images: AP/Getty/Vogue/TMZ
Source: news
8 comments
She was mental: AS A ROCK!!
very sad
I wouldn’t want to witness something like that…
She was stunning! Such a short life. Depression is so common at that age.
Whether Ruslana Korshunova killed herself or not remains to be seen. Deliberately throwing oneself off a balcony is not generally the method of choice.
No one really wants to die. People only think of suicide when they feel they don’t have any other choice and most do not commit suicide in private where nobody knows. Telling is telling-revealing. Most talk about wanting to die, because they want someone to give them a way out other than death. Most people commit suicide because they’re in pain.
My name is Hunter. I’m a spokesperson for a national hotline for teens at 1 (800) USA KIDS. We’re here 24/7 or teens may Skype me. My Skype username is huntingtonsmith. I’m online a lot but not constantly. My email is hunter@thursdayschild.org. The number for adults, the National Suicide Hotline, is 1 (800) 273 TALK. Our website is at http://www.thursdayschild.org (mouseover photos and text).
The teenage years especially are times of emotional transition. There’s a lot of having to grow up all at once that takes place. Suddenly, there are more responsibilities. There’s high school and the thought of college. When we go to school as teens, there’s no longer the sameness of sitting in one classroom with the same kids and the same teacher everyday. Now, we have to race from class to class. Everything is different. And then there’s sex and that’s all confusing. I mean, not long ago we used to hate the opposite sex or at least we pretended to and now we’re not only supposed to be liking them, but maybe or maybe not getting parts of our body invaded by them and all of those other things that seemed so unthinkable when we first learned about the facts of life. Our bodies change. Our minds change. But we are all immature. We don’t know how to handle situations. We don’t even know how to handle the thoughts that go through our minds. We feel awkward about relationships. We don’t know what we feel. But in it all, there is an awful aloneness, no matter how popular we seem to be.
Most of us can handle it. But some of us, a lot of us, can’t. Each of us has felt suicidal at some point in our teens and the ones who don’t are liars. We all cry. We each hurt. But most of us have friends that are there for us to help us through those times. Teens do kill themselves. It happens a lot more often than it should. It happens because no one was there with them at the right time to say just the right words. But it’s important to talk. It’s important to hold and to be held. It’s important to cry and let it all out. Things always change. The light at the end of the tunnel isn’t always an oncoming train. If you’re feeling suicidal, seek someone out. Sleep helps if you’re alone. You will feel better afterwards. And if you know a teen who’s talking about death, see if you can get his or her parents to help, Counseling is beneficial, but it isn’t a cure. Direction is. Give someone a reason to live and death becomes unthinkable. Joke with them. Make them laugh. Make them see something special in themselves.
Those ugly fake models that came around her took her life.They were jealous of her extreme beauty and her rising to the top.They are the ones who did it, it was not a suicide.They were always around her and jealous of her and they know who they are
This model began hanging around with a very bad group of models that I have read they call the fake models.They were all jealous of her and her extreme beauty and the fact that she was rising to the top.They are very very guilty.This was absolutely not a suicide.The ones who did it know who they are.
A “definite” suicide? Really? And where is the evidence of that? Or is evidence old-fashioned all of a sudden?
No one saw her jump. There was no suicide note. Everyone who knew her were completely surprised and say she was happy and loved life, and that she loved her work.
A few sad rantings, several weeks/months old on MySpace is proof of her state of mind that day? Give me a break. I bet there were tons of happy blogs she wrote, as well.
These quotes were taken totally out of context in order to create a fake scenario of suicide. The police has some explaining to do. It smells like a quick cover-up to me. The question is why.
She had made plans to go to her best friend’s birthday party that SAME day. She had made plans to go to Milan. I don’t for a second believe she committed a violent suicide in the middle of the day.
It was either an accident as she was cutting the construction netting to get some air and light into her apartment, or a homicide.
Look closer at her ex, or the Russian mafia who is known to be involved in the fashion industry.
Her ex did not do it nor did the Russian mafia they had no reason too.The guilty ones are the jealous models that were around her.There is aboslutely foul play.They were all worried about her success in my opinion it was Lilly Cole,Lilly Donaldson-who has had a ton of plastic surgery and Gemma Ward and these little group and Vlada ,Sasha an ugly little model ,none of these models were natural like Ruslana,they have all been in scandals sent they hit the industry,investigate them.They have blood on their hands ,they are more than guilty they were drenched in envy and jealousy at the fact that this model was so very beautiful and they are made of plastic and lies and have fake names and very bad past histories .They are the guilty ones, better believe it, they did something,and may justice be done and they get punished for this horrible crime they have committed against a beautiful Ruslana