A Georgia woman was identified as the person who fell from graduation stands at an Ohio stadium on Sunday, but police say it was not accidental.
While many of the attendees were shaken by the incident, the graduation continued on Sunday after the woman fell at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.
A history of mental illness.
Police said she fell about 136 feet to the pavement below just as the graduates were walking into the opening ceremony. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
An officer called for help on the police radio at the stadium around 12:30 p.m.
Some of the students walked by the location of her death after the ceremony ended.
The woman was later identified as 53-year-old Larissa Brady from Georgia, whose daughter was in the ceremony.
Investigators do not suspect foul play was involved, nor do they believe that the fall was accidental, according to university spokesperson Ben Johnson.
The Columbus Dispatch reported that court documents indicated police believed the death was a suicide.
Witnesses said they saw the woman climb over the concrete wall of the stadium after making her way to the last row of seats near the bell tower.
The coroner’s office said that the woman’s husband had reported that she was not taking her medications and had a history of mental illness issues. The woman had reportedly tried to commit suicide at least twice before her death.
The investigative report said that the woman had gone to the stadium with her husband and their son from Woodstock, a city north of Marietta. Once they sat down, she told her family she wanted to find a higher seat.
The coroner identified her through her fingerprints.
Brady’s daughter was receiving a bachelor’s degree during the ceremony, and the report said that the mother had spoken to her daughter just before the program began.
The death was not mentioned during the graduation ceremony despite the news of the horrible incident spreading among the attendees. Some on social media criticized the commencement speaker, social entrepreneur Chris Pan, for delivering an upbeat speech after the tragedy.
A spokesperson for the university said that graduates and participants in the ceremony were offered counseling services.
Here’s more about the lethal fall:
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