A student posted a video to her Snapchat account mere minutes before plunging to her death while at university, reportedly "trying to get a good picture for Instagram".
Sydney Monfries, a 22-year-old who attended Fordham University in New York, broke into the Bell Tower at her college while with friends in the early hours of the morning, and the journalism student posted to her Snapchat just a few minutes before her death, reported the New York Times.
"I heard they were just getting a better view of the city. I think they were posting on Instagram when it [the fall] happened," a student at the university said to the New York Post.
Police reported that Monfries fell through the opening in the landing, and fell down the inside of the clock tower. She was discovered by police unconscious inside the clock tower at around 3 am on April 14, with injuries to her head and body.
The student was rushed to St Barnabas Hospital, but the university reported that Monfries died on Sunday evening of her injuries. In an e-mail to students at Fordham University, the president Rev. Joseph M. McShane confirmed that Monfries had passed away.
"There are no words sufficient to describe the loss of someone so young and full of promise — and mere weeks from graduation," McShane said, but urged people in an earlier e-mail to "join me in keeping Sydney, and her family and loved ones, in your thoughts and prayers".
CBS New York also reported on the tragedy at Fordham University:Priscilla Morales, a psychology student at Fordham University, said that while the clock tower at Fordham was locked and off-limits, it was far from uncommon for students to climb the tower, hoping to get a good view.
"It’s like a senior thing to go on the most popular building on campus. Recently people heard the door was open or found a passageway. They usually go late at night at around 1 or 2 a.m. to drink and see the view."
An article in the school's journal of record the Fordham Ram also revealed the ghost stories around the tower, with one student saying to the paper. "The thrill of danger is definitely a huge allure to going up," they revealed. "I would say the other two reasons for going up are the amazing view of the entire campus from up there and the ability to brag about doing it."
The Fordham Observer, the award-winning student newspaper of Fordham University, said that Sydney Monfries hailed from Portland, Oregon.
