Woman Leaps To Death From NYC Building With 5-Year-Old Daughter

KEY POINTS

Oksana Patchin was visiting her friend in the building when the incident took place
Rooftop cameras captured the woman pacing around before climbing over a safety gate, picking up her daughter and leaping off
She did not leave any suicide note
Law enforcement sources revealed that she had recently divorced her husband

A 39-year-old woman leaped from the roof of a 12-story Hell's Kitchen building in New York with her 5-year-old daughter in her arms, killing them both.

Police said Oksana Patchin and her daughter Olivia Patchin from Brooklyn fell from the building at 540 W. 53rd St. at about 1:40 p.m on Sunday. Both were taken to St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital but were pronounced dead, said a report by New York Post.

Police sources said Patchin, a resident of Prospect Heights, was visiting her friend in the building when the incident happened. "Oksana had asked the friend for her key card, claiming she wanted to show her daughter the rooftop view. Once on the roof, cameras captured the mother pacing around, before climbing over a safety gate, picking up her daughter and leaping off," sources said.

Originally from Ukraine, Oksana studied accounting in New York. She recently divorced her husband and was living with her mother, said law enforcement sources. She did not leave a suicide note.

Residents of the building said once they heard the woman fall from the rooftop, they knew it wasn't an accident. "There's a large railing up there. It's not something you would easily fall off of. I saw a stretcher, like a gurney, with some people on top of it doing what appeared to be resuscitating techniques. It's really sad that you would make that sort of plan to go up there because it's not something that happens," Zak Risinger, a tenant, told CBS New York.

Another tenant said the victim's mother had been very distraught but did not provide further details.

The Administration for Children's Services (ACS) officials are yet to disclose details but said an investigation was on. "Our top priority is protecting the safety and welfare of all children in New York City. We are investigating this case with the NYPD," an ACS spokesperson said.

In an earlier incident, a Tennessee woman jumped off an interstate highway overpass with her 21-month-old son, killing them both. According to the police, Tonisha Barker first attempted to ram her car into the gas pump. After the crash, she got out of the vehicle with her child to the interstate overpass, from which she jumped.