A 26-year-old woman who fell from a swanky Times Square rooftop bar this week couldn’t “cope” with her father’s death two years ago, friends said – even as her mother insisted her daughter’s death was an accident was.
Police are still investigating the reason Elizabeth Gaglewski fell to her death from Bar 54 in the Hyatt Centric Times Square on Wednesday, but friends said she was still devastated at the death of her father during the COVID-19 outbreak Pandemic.
“She was a beautiful girl with a beautiful heart,” said a man at Gaglewski’s Queens home on Friday, who declined to give his name. “She lost her father two years ago and never knew how to deal with it.”
Gaglewski’s devastated mother, Hope Smith, told the Post her daughter doesn’t struggle with mental illness.
Aspiring model Elizabeth Gaglewski was remembered as “a beautiful girl with a beautiful heart.” Zach Hilty/BFA.com
“I think it was an accident,” said Smith, 65. “She didn’t struggle with anything. When she left me to meet friends she was completely happy and content and she looked beautiful.”
Smith said her daughter, who grew up in Manhattan, was hanging out with friends.
“She took good care of herself. My daughter was a purist, meaning she had a minimum of friends, she was very private, she didn’t put any substance in her body…no junk food. She trained, she danced. She was very spiritual.”
Smith collapsed Friday on his way out of the house to get dialysis and then to the morgue.
Police are investigating whether Elizabeth Gaglewski fell or jumped from a rooftop bar in Manhattan. Daniel William McKnight
Bar 54 at the Hyatt Centric Times Square. Google Earth
The rooftop bar at Hyatt Centric Times Square. Hyatt
“Life doesn’t mean anything to me anymore,” Smith said.
“She was my everything. She is everything, is everything to me. I can do nothing, nothing. She is my only child.”
Smith broke down crying and said she was “not feeling well”.
Elizabeth Gaglewski’s mother Hope was devastated after the tragedy.
“I mean it’s useless. I’m just doing as they tell me — my sisters,” Smith said. “I feel nothing. i’m tired, i’m tired I have not slept. I do not feel good.”
Gaglewski was “an aspiring model and was adored by everyone who crossed her path,” said a GoFundMe, set up on Friday to help pay for the disabled mother’s funeral expenses. Questions remain about the moments before she fell from the 54th floor and landed on a 27th floor balcony.
Police witnesses reportedly said the woman had “jumped” off the ledge and workers apparently tried to rescue her but were unable to reach her before it was too late, sources said. The police reviewed surveillance footage.
Sony Beauvil, 48, who lives in the building, called the aftermath “very painful”.
“The mother was hysterical — that’s a mother in pain,” Beauvil said. “Her mother told me the police came and said something had happened to her and later she found out … She cried when she spoke to me.”
“Everyone’s crying — even if you can’t see the tears, they’re crying inside,” Beauvil said. “Everyone with knowledge of the situation came to help her stay calm. I will be there for you. She needs to pray and trust in God.”
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or having a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five counties, you can call the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988, text HOME to 741741, or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.