Pin It

Legends of the Fall

In Miami's jungle of condo towers, 16 people have jumped to their deaths.

A A A Comments (11) By Natalie O'Neill Thursday, Sep 10 2009

Midway through the party, she and her boyfriend Victor "were involved in a heated argument," according to the medical examiner's investigation. She told him she wanted to die, so Victor left her 28th-floor condo to look for help from security guards. When he got downstairs, he saw "people on their cell phones, running frantically" toward Mariajose's bikini-clad body. She had a gaping wound on her head the size of an eggplant.

Fred and Ceil Feldman couldn't help but stare at the broken body on their patio. "As much as I didn't want to look," Fred remembers, "I had to."

Kyle T. Webster

More About

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.

The rest of the day was filled with questions from detectives. The Feldmans were trapped in the gruesome scene of Khinna's death: They weren't able to leave their home for hours. A cleaning crew finally began to wash the couple's blood-stained outdoor tables six hours later. Two men wore clunky masks and coveralls as they scrubbed the mess with toothbrush-size instruments. "The city sent them," Ceil says. "They looked like they'd come from the moon."

These days, Fred, an 81-year-old retired businessman, sometimes wonders about that fateful morning. What if he and Ceil had decided to have coffee outside? Would they be alive? And what if Khinna's husband hadn't left to fetch breakfast? Or if the cancer hadn't come back?

Fred and Ceil don't pretend to know what went on in that poor woman's mind. "It may seem strange," Fred says, "but we feel lucky to be alive."

Check out this week's featured ad for News

Blue Moon Outdoor

View Ad View Website

More Ads >>

Get the Weekly Newsletter

Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.

Email
to Friend

Write to
Editor

Print
Article

SaintAnger 04/24/2010 2:41:00 PM

This was a well written story but it made me sad because I think of my friend who killed himself quite often. It has been only five years now and he was the 2nd person I knew in life who killed themselves. The other was a girl I knew while we were freshman in high school many many years ago. THe loss of my friend Jason hit home more for me though because we were kind of tight. He worked at the office next door to me and we started hanging out time to time. He had a quirky sense of humor that I enjoyed and fed off of. I knew he was having problems with his folks, epecially his father, but I never knew he was considering suicide. I guess his father knew, he must have threatened to do it to him because his father would send people to his condo to check on him when they had not heard from him in a few days. I wish his dad would have told me or that I would have known he may do this. I wonder where there clues I was missing? Can I ever forgive myself. I saw Jason once in a dream after he died. He came and spoke to me and laughed. I believe in souls and life after death but I don't know if I should hire a psychic. Is my former friend at peace or not, will I ever see him again? Life is hard enough for the living but suicide affects those you left behind too not just whoever you were mad at or could not deal with. If your considering suicide please call the hotline or talk to someone! Don't do it. Life can be hard and there are some really crappy things that we all have to deal with in one way or another, but taking the early exit for the majority of the reasons is bad. It's bad and possibly unforgiveable.

LucyFur 11/24/2009 12:22:00 AM

A man fell/jumped (not sure which) from the 14th floor last night in my building - I am on the bottom floor, and he landed literally right next my balcony - my wife and I heard the thud, I ran over to the balcony to look and saw him laying there and called 911. He was still alive when they took him to the ambulance, but in obviously very bad shape, he did not appear to be responding at all. Very sad, and quite a tough experience for my wife and I. Let's all pray for him and his family, and for all of those (families and witnesses) who experience these tragic events. I have seen the victim of a roadside fatality before, but this is much worse because it happened literally so close to home. I can totally relate to how the Feldman's must feel.

Diamond Dan Kerness 10/01/2009 8:58:00 PM

Speechless.

Biscyane Bystander 09/22/2009 5:53:00 PM

Great story & really well told. A man jumped to his death from my building several years ago & this story gave me more insight than the rumors floating around the community.

paula123 09/21/2009 3:23:00 PM

great one~!! I want to tell you the best ~!!you can not refuse a person stay here to listen to what you say !there is no difference between young and old ! when you come to ★militaryflirting.C O M only good frindship go to ★militaryflirting.C O M here you can find some surprise!!! many rich and hot singles here ...and wonderful videos...★militaryflirting.C O M it's worth to have a look

jb 09/15/2009 8:28:00 PM

Very sad story, but extremely well written and executed. The subject matter is sensitive to many, but these stories need to be told. Well-done Natalie O'Neill.

Fredrum! 09/12/2009 1:41:00 AM

Its not the fall that kills you. Its the quick stop....

Rebecca Thorp 09/11/2009 8:58:00 PM

If you are having thoughts of suicide or you are worried about someone you know, please call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit their website at www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org. Learn about the risk factors and what to do if you are worried about someone you love at www.afsp.org. Click on "about suicide" Survivors of Suicide loss can find information resources for healing at www.afsp.org/survivingsuicideloss.

lenny 09/11/2009 2:00:00 AM

My wife told me that she had heard from another relative, that her uncle had jumped to his death. Too distraught, she asked me to find out what happened. I called the Medical Examiner, and was simply told that he had died of "blunt force trauma" and left it at that. There was no explanation. My father-in-law knows nothing of this, nor did we. Your article cleared up a lot of missing holes, but we still do not really understand why.

Dhalsim 09/09/2009 10:17:00 PM

Hey why hasn't New Times enabled Digg on their articles???

Rausky 09/09/2009 8:07:00 AM

Its sad to hear how people take their own lives. Many suffer from deep lonliness and big emptyness in their soul. How does one fill that emptyness, I wish I knew or had the answer. I have also struggled with that empty feeling for years, the feeling of not having accomplished certain personal goals. That empty feeling eats away at your soul. One has to be strong not to do something so extreme like killing yourself. I guess some of us are better able to handle certain problems better than others.

Legends of the Fall

In Miami's jungle of condo towers, 16 people have jumped to their deaths.

Related Content

More About

Like this Story?

Blue Moon Outdoor

View Ad View Website

Get the Weekly Newsletter

Most Popular Stories

New Times on Facebook

Slideshows»

Best of Miami

2011 - People & Places

Special Reports

Now Click This