Labanko’s corpse was suspended for an hour.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: An artist who wanted to make one, final morbid statement hanged herself from the fire escape of her Brooklyn, New York, apartment building on Sunday, horrifying residents who had to walk by her suspended corpse for more than an hour.
The body of Jennifer Lubanko, 21, was discovered hanging outside her fourth-floor apartment at Utica Avenue and Prospect Place in Crown Heights around 8:20 a.m., according to the New York Post.
“It was like a horror movie,’’ Horace Benoit, 38, a neighbor who lives in the building, told the Post. “Poor girl. Her body was out there so long, just hanging.”
Lubanko’s body remained in the alleyway between two buildings for more than an hour before police officers finally covered it with a white sheet. It remained behind the sheet for at least 40 more minutes, witnesses said.
Police stated they didn’t want to move the body until homicide was ruled out.
The Post’s police sources disclosed they did not find a suicide note inside Lubanko’s apartment, which she shared with another woman in her 20s, and said it is unclear why she killed herself. But the woman’s artwork was “dark and appeared troubled.”
Lubanko regularly posted disturbing videos and drawings on a personal site. She also posted her work on ScaryPretty.org, which describes itself as “glitteringly morbid,” according to a parent of one of her friends.
A distraught man who identified himself as the woman’s father showed up with a suitcase to clear out his daughter’s belongings, but declined to answer questions.
“She was very social. Her parents were always around visiting,” said neighbor Stella Wiley, 66, to the Post, who added that Lubanko looked to be in good spirits as she walked her pet dachshund about 90 minutes before taking her life. “She seemed like a nice girl.”