Girl Takes 23 Story Death Plunge...Just Goofing Around

[bloodrayne]

Police Affidavit Reveals Details Of High-Rise Fall

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania — A Saylorsburg woman who fell to her death from a 23rd-floor apartment first wanted to sit on the window ledge, and when she couldn't touch the window in the apartment below with her feet, asked her boyfriend for help, he told police.

That was when Kevin P. Eckenrode said he lost his grip on Rachel M. Kozlusky, according to an arrest affidavit filed by a Harrisburg police detective. Kozlusky crashed through a skylight in the awning and landed on the pavement in front of the apartment building Saturday evening.

Those who knew the young woman as a student at Pleasant Valley High School described her Tuesday as athletic, confident, upbeat and a risk-taker.

"He grabbed her under the armpits from behind with his hands and lowered her to the window below," wrote Detective Donald Heffner. "During this time she slipped out of his hands and fell to her death." There are apparently no witnesses to the incident except Eckenrode.

Eckenrode, 25, has been charged with homicide and was being held without bail Tuesday morning. He was suspended without pay by the state's fledgling gambling regulatory board, where he was a $33,000-a-year press aide for the agency charged with implementing slot-machine gambling in Pennsylvania.

Eckenrode and Kozlusky, 23, had been drinking in the hours before her fall Saturday evening, and his apartment was strewn with empty beer cans and wine bottles, police said.

Eckenrode was distraught and drunk when authorities arrived at the scene, Harrisburg police said.

"His speech was slurred, his eyes were bloodshot, he swayed as he talked to me and he smelled of an alcoholic beverage," Heffner wrote. "Kevin volunteered he had been drinking all day and was intoxicated." Eckenrode moved from Scranton to the 25-story apartment building about a month ago to take a job with the Gaming Control Board.

His lawyer, William Costopoulos, called the death a tragedy and said he is still gathering information before he seeks bail.

"The indications are that this was not intentional," Costopoulos said. "There are indications that it was an accident."

Costopoulos said the couple was alone in the apartment at the time of the death.

His research on Eckenrode didn't show any previous criminal records, he said.

Costopoulos has been in contact with Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico Jr., who also is waiting for police to complete their work.

"Police are getting background information," Marsico said Tuesday afternoon. "They are interviewing friends and neighbors."

"We won't charge a crime if it was an accident," Marsico said.

Eckenrode has also been charged with possession of drug paraphernalia for what authorities said was a marijuana pipe.

The death of Kozlusky, a 2000 graduate of Pleasant Valley High School, president of the senior class and an athlete, continues to draw reaction from the people who knew her.

Jurgen Kreckel, Kozlusky's student government adviser, searched for words.

"What can you say? She was just a neat kid. She was a bit adventurous. She tried anything. Not in a bad way, but in a fun way. She was lively and so full of life. Sometimes she didn't pay attention — not that she wasn't sensible. But it was just her basic character. She was always happy and willing to make someone else happy."

Woody Metzger was her track coach.

"She was upbeat and a risk-taker," Metzger said "She wasn't afraid to get involved in something. She wasn't afraid to speak up and take a position different from the majority of kids. That was very good, and that's why she became class president.

"She was on the track team for several years. She was a hurdler. A very confident individual," Metzger said. "As a senior she was very helpful with the younger kids. If they're not doing as well as they can, we'll put them into the hands of the Momma Bear. She was very good that way."

"She was very happy-go-lucky," Metzger said. "I can still see the smile on her face."

[mothermold]

Originally posted by bloodrayne
"She was very happy-go-lucky," Metzger said. "I can still see the smile on her face."

Which I'm sure they had a helluva time scraping off the sidwalk.

[Yellow Jacket]

Originally posted by bloodrayne
Those who knew the young woman as a student at Pleasant Valley High School described her Tuesday as athletic, confident, upbeat and a risk-taker.

She's a risk-taker but can't even get here ass on the damn windowsill! That's sad and pathetic!