19 February 2008

Suicide At The U.N. ? If a tree falls in a forest...



44-year-old Maria DiBiase, an Austrian / Australian woman depending on which paper you read, who worked for the United Nations, jumped to her death from the 19th floor of the iconic Secretariat building early Sunday morning.

DiBiase, who worked for the Austrian / Australian Consulate, was discovered in the rear courtyard by horrified UN staffers around 8 a.m. Sunday morning.

Security guards and investigators placed yellow tape around her body and blocked some staff from leaving the building. Later, DiBiase's body lay draped with a white sheet on the east side of the 39-story building. Several police and U.N. security officers said the woman showed up at work Sunday morning and apparently jumped from the 19th floor.

DiBiase was remembered as a chatty and friendly woman who had an interest in computers. There were no apparent signs of foul play, but naturally an investigation is ongoing.

It wasn't the first death jump from the 55-year-old landmark building which overlooks the East River. In 1982, Johannes Raven, a 57-year old UN official who had just resigned from the Office of Financial Services, was reported to have been upset about his failing health and jumped from the 18th floor on the west side of the building.

Odd and quite sad how some stories get so buried. If a woman falls in a forest near the U.N. and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound ?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The suicide at the Empire State Building a few weeks back was better