Corpse Removed from UN Lawn, 44-Year Old Woman Fell from High Story, UN Tight-Lipped

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 17, 12:40 pm, 1:10 pm update -- A corpse on the UN's South Lawn was put in a body bag and removed just after noon on Sunday. While UN Security was informed not to speak with the press, this reporter saw a deep indentation on the lawn, and the body being packed up, taken upstairs in a freight elevator and loaded into the New York City Medical Examiner van. Two sources told Inner City Press that the deceased was a woman, dressed in light blue, believed to have jumped or been pushed from a high floor of the UN's 40-story headquarters, noting that the uniforms of the UN's cleaning contractor, One Source, are light blue.

1:10 p.m. update -- New York City DCPI, called by Inner City Press, confirmed that at 8:09 a.m. NYPD responded to the UN, finding a 44-year old white female unconscious and unresponsive in the "back courtyard" of the UN. No criminality is suspected at this time. Asked by Inner City Press if the deceased was a UN staffer or cleaning contractor - or diplomat -- the response was that the individuals "was a worker at the location."

UN sources put the deceased's age at 45, nationality Australian, floor of department, 19. With the Security Council's 1 p.m. consultations on Kosovo's declaration of independence postponed to 3 p.m. due to a lack of interpreters, cynical UN correspondents tried to link the leap with the lack of translation. Developing.

Body wheeled out of UN on Sunday, photo (c) M.R. Lee

            With preparations underway for the UN Security Council's 1 p.m. emergency meeting on Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, the South Lawn directly outside the window of the Council's consultation room was surrounded by yellow police tape, a deep gash still visible in the lawn. Developing.

1 p.m. update -- even before the Council meeting began, and before the assembled media noticed what had happened, the police crime scene tape was removed.

1:35 p.m. -- the New York Post, for example, now says they "are aware of it."

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These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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