Jewelry Designer Commits Suicide

A young jewelry designer named Ashley Riggitano plunged to her death on Wednesday, the day of her 22nd birthday, according to the New York Post, after jumping from an upper level of the George Washington Bridge.

Riggitano, a graduate of New York’s Laboratory Institute of Merchandising, left a Louis Vuitton bag on the bridge’s walkway, filled with suicide notes that detailed the five people she didn’t want to attend her funeral. It’s believed that the notes, whose messages reportedly allude to excessive bullying, are aimed at Riggitano’s fashion colleagues from both work and school.

Riggitano’s body was pulled out of the Hudson shortly after her jump, and sources close to her report that she’s long battled with mental issues and had tried to commit suicide at least once before. Prior to her death, Riggitano, was working on her own jewelry line named Missfits while interning in the wholesale and PR departments of jewelry label Alex Woo, who has most recently received attention for being featured on the Sex and the City spinoff show, The Carrie Diaries. Woo told the Daily Mail that Riggitano “always had a smile on her face, she didn’t look depressed,” though a representative for the label declined to comment to The Daily Beast.

It’s believed that Riggitano’s partner in the Missfits line, Victoria Van Thunen, has spoken out about her friend on social media, though it’s unknown if she posted her opinions before or after hearing of Riggitano’s death. “Those who incessantly blame others as the cause of their issues should perhaps take a step back and reevaluate these situations The common thread may be that ‘they’ aren’t the problem, but rather that YOU are,” Van Thunen posted on Facebook.