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2nd NYU death leap

Eerie mirror of 1st suicide

By KERRY BURKE and OWEN MORITZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_...-jumpernyu.JPG
Students distraught at yesterday's death leap of 18-year-old from Dayton, Ohio.

A freshman member of New York University's swim team leaped to his death in the school's library yesterday, the second such suicide in less than a month.
The 18-year-old from Dayton, Ohio, was described by friends as an upbeat, fun-loving student who spoke four languages, making the tragedy all the more shocking. His name was being withheld by the Daily News pending notification of his family.

Witnesses said he climbed over a 10th-floor ledge and plunged to the marble floor of the atrium in the Elmer Bobst Library on Washington Square South. The incident eerily mirrored a Sept. 12 case in which a 20-year-old student from Evanston, Ill. climbed over the same balcony and jumped to his death, as other students watched in horror, police said.

A library worker present for both tragedies said he did not look this time after the leaper went to the ledge about 3:20p.m. and jumped.

"He just jumped - it was quick," said the worker, who did not want his name used. "I didn't look over the ledge. I looked the last time."

'Very passionate'

Ken Beehler of Vero Beach, Fla., could not believe yesterday's victim - his roommate during orientation - had a death wish.

"He was nothing like someone who you'd think was suicidal," Beehler said. "I saw him [Thursday]. We were hanging out talking about how fun college was - and how new all this was. If you hung with him, you'd feel better.

"He was very passionate about French," Beehler added. "He had goals. He wanted to be an interpreter. It's hard to find a person who didn't love him."

He was pronounced dead at St. Vincent's Medical Center. There was no word about whether he left a suicide note.

NYU authorities at the school's College of Arts and Sciences had no immediate comment on the twin tragedies.

As for Beehler, he said the death of his ex-roommate has yet to sink in.

"When we walk past the door [to his dorm room], then we'll feel it," he said.

Originally published on October 10, 2003