Twenty-year-old supermodel Ruslana Korshunova fell to her death in an apparent suicide around 2:30 pm Saturday. The Kazakhstani model known as IMG’s “Russian Rapunzel” for her long locks leaped from her posh ninth-floor apartment in Manhattan’s Financial District. Officials ruled her death a suicide Sunday afternoon after an investigation into the events that led to her death. Korshunova’s body was discovered by construction workers who heard a loud noise that sounded like gun shots.
“I heard what sounded like a gunshot or a bomb or an explosion,” said a stunned Con Ed worker talking to a cop nearby. “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.”
Friends are still in disbelief that Korshunova, who was so full of life and energy, would kill herself. Three months ago, Ruslana posted online: “I’m so lost. Will I ever find myself?” A friend of the supermodel said Ruslana was on top of the world after returning from a job in Paris. No one knows what triggered Ruslana to leap to her death. Her ex-boyfriend had just dropped her off at her apartment around 5 am, after watching a “Ghost“.
Ruslana was discovered in 2003 by Debbie Jones of Models 1 after seeing the Russian beauty in an in-flight magazine article about her hometown of Kazakhstan, Almaty. “She looked like something out of a fairytale! We had to find her and we searched high and low until we did! She’s really incredible with feline features and timeless beauty,” said Jones.
Ruslana graced the covers of numerous fashion magazines and editorials. She appeared in Russian Vogue and French Elle, in advertisements for Marc by Marc Jacobs DKNY and Christian Dior, and walked the runways for Marc by Marc Jacobs, Y-3, Alberta Ferretti and Marchesa.
Since then, Ruslana appeared on the covers of Russian Vogue and French Elle, in ads for Marc by Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang, DKNY, and Christian Dior, and walked in numerous runways for the likes of Marchesa, Libertine, Y-3, Alberta Ferretti and Marc by Marc Jacobs.
