bigzak25
07-22-2005, 08:47 AM
link (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/07/22/mother_baby_die_in_leap_from_high_rise/)
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A 28-year-old mother grabbed her 9-month-old daughter late yesterday afternoon and jumped from a window of their 24th-floor apartment in a downtown Boston luxury high-rise, police said. Both the woman and her child were killed.
The woman climbed onto a ledge and leaped out the window just as her husband opened the door of their apartment at about 5 p.m., police said.
The woman left two suicide notes, one on the living room table in the apartment and the other on her body, in which she asked for forgiveness, said a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation. It was not clear last night why the woman jumped.
The woman and baby landed on a ledge at the seventh floor of the 42-story Devonshire apartment building on Washington Street, where authorities found them on their backs, police and witnesses said. The girl, witnesses said, was wearing a peach dress.
Paramedics took the husband, 31, on a stretcher to Massachusetts General Hospital. Police said he had no physical injuries and is believed to be in his late 20s or early 30s. The source said the woman's in-laws had been staying in the apartment, but had moved to a hotel yesterday. The names of the victims are being withheld pending family notification.
Police were interviewing residents of the 24th floor and other potential witnesses.
A few minutes later, a crowd of more than 100 people had gathered near the building, several saying they heard the thud of the two landing on the ledge.
''It was awful, absolutely awful," said Joe Deleskey, 31, of Peabody, a construction worker who heard screaming as they plunged to their deaths.
Police said 911 was flooded with calls from people inside and outside the building as they witnessed the horror.
A co-worker of Deleskey, Valter Almeida, 29, also of Peabody, said he worried about having nightmares after hearing the screams. ''I'm still shaking," he said.
The deaths stunned the building's residents.
Bill O'Neil, 42, arrived in his apartment on the 16th floor and saw the mother and child on the ledge below. Authorities had covered the mother with a sheet and put a pillowcase over the baby, he said. ''It's tragic," O'Neil said.
Vivienne Yui, 31, was in the shower when she heard a loud thump. She turned off the water and heard a man yelling, ''Help, help."
''The yelling sounded so close by," said Yui, who lives with her husband on the 21st floor. ''I knew something bad had happened."
Sylvie Colucci, 47, said she was watching television in the living room of a 19th-floor apartment when she saw a dark shape go past the window.
''It was going so fast," she said. ''We didn't know what it was. We thought it was a big bird or something."
Colucci said the apartments on the upper levels of the building are rented by the month or week for tourists. She and others said it was the second time someone had jumped from the building in the past few years.
Another resident of the building, Harry Hanson Jr., 68, said a man with cancer jumped from the 20th floor a few years ago.
''It was a horrible thing, just like this," he said, adding that the building's windows are separated into panels, with one large pane in the middle and two narrow panes on the side, which can be moved.
''It's been real hard on everyone who lives here. If only we could stop it from happening again," he said.
Pete Wong, 24, lives in the building and briefly lived on the same floor as the family.
''They were a normal family," he said.
The building is owned by Devonshire Associates and Boylston Partners.
A man who answered the phone at the company's offices yesterday said the building management did not wish to comment, but said, ''Obviously, we are very sorry."
:(
A 28-year-old mother grabbed her 9-month-old daughter late yesterday afternoon and jumped from a window of their 24th-floor apartment in a downtown Boston luxury high-rise, police said. Both the woman and her child were killed.
The woman climbed onto a ledge and leaped out the window just as her husband opened the door of their apartment at about 5 p.m., police said.
The woman left two suicide notes, one on the living room table in the apartment and the other on her body, in which she asked for forgiveness, said a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation. It was not clear last night why the woman jumped.
The woman and baby landed on a ledge at the seventh floor of the 42-story Devonshire apartment building on Washington Street, where authorities found them on their backs, police and witnesses said. The girl, witnesses said, was wearing a peach dress.
Paramedics took the husband, 31, on a stretcher to Massachusetts General Hospital. Police said he had no physical injuries and is believed to be in his late 20s or early 30s. The source said the woman's in-laws had been staying in the apartment, but had moved to a hotel yesterday. The names of the victims are being withheld pending family notification.
Police were interviewing residents of the 24th floor and other potential witnesses.
A few minutes later, a crowd of more than 100 people had gathered near the building, several saying they heard the thud of the two landing on the ledge.
''It was awful, absolutely awful," said Joe Deleskey, 31, of Peabody, a construction worker who heard screaming as they plunged to their deaths.
Police said 911 was flooded with calls from people inside and outside the building as they witnessed the horror.
A co-worker of Deleskey, Valter Almeida, 29, also of Peabody, said he worried about having nightmares after hearing the screams. ''I'm still shaking," he said.
The deaths stunned the building's residents.
Bill O'Neil, 42, arrived in his apartment on the 16th floor and saw the mother and child on the ledge below. Authorities had covered the mother with a sheet and put a pillowcase over the baby, he said. ''It's tragic," O'Neil said.
Vivienne Yui, 31, was in the shower when she heard a loud thump. She turned off the water and heard a man yelling, ''Help, help."
''The yelling sounded so close by," said Yui, who lives with her husband on the 21st floor. ''I knew something bad had happened."
Sylvie Colucci, 47, said she was watching television in the living room of a 19th-floor apartment when she saw a dark shape go past the window.
''It was going so fast," she said. ''We didn't know what it was. We thought it was a big bird or something."
Colucci said the apartments on the upper levels of the building are rented by the month or week for tourists. She and others said it was the second time someone had jumped from the building in the past few years.
Another resident of the building, Harry Hanson Jr., 68, said a man with cancer jumped from the 20th floor a few years ago.
''It was a horrible thing, just like this," he said, adding that the building's windows are separated into panels, with one large pane in the middle and two narrow panes on the side, which can be moved.
''It's been real hard on everyone who lives here. If only we could stop it from happening again," he said.
Pete Wong, 24, lives in the building and briefly lived on the same floor as the family.
''They were a normal family," he said.
The building is owned by Devonshire Associates and Boylston Partners.
A man who answered the phone at the company's offices yesterday said the building management did not wish to comment, but said, ''Obviously, we are very sorry."