Kazakh supermodel RUSLANA KORSHUNOVA'S death plunge from a New York apartment on Saturday (28June08) was a suicide, according to the city's officials.
The 20-year-old, who graced the catwalks for some of the world's top designers and fashion magazines including Vogue and Elle, was found dead outside a residential building in Manhattan.
The beauty, who had only lived at the ninth-floor apartment for two months, died from blunt impact injuries and had taken her own life, according to a spokeswoman for New York's city medical examiner.
A close friend of the model couldn't believe the news about her suicide, saying: "There's no way she would have killed herself. I talked to her (Friday) night and we were talking all the gossip."
A representative for Korshunova's modelling agency, IMG - which also handles Heidi Klum and Kate Moss - paid tribute to the late star, saying, "We're shocked and our heart goes out to her family."