A police investigation into the death of Miss Alabama 2021, Zoe Sozo Bethel, revealed that the beauty queen reportedly attempted to die by suicide by leaping off a building in Miami.
The Miami Police Department reported that the 27-year-old model had jumped from a seven-story condo in the Edgewater neighborhood, which left her in a coma for over a week before she succumbed to traumatic brain injuries.
While she was in the coma, family members reported that Bethel had been involved in an unspecified “accident.” However, following a standard investigation, the Miami PD ruled the incident a suicide attempt.
Bethel’s family members haven’t respond to media questioning at this time.
The Alabama native’s death was revealed via a statement her family posted to the pageant star’s Instagram page Sunday.
“On Friday, February 18, 2022, at approximately 5:30AM Eastern time in Miami, Florida, our beloved Zoe Sozo Bethel passed from this life into the next as a result of succumbing to her injuries,” the statement reads.
That followed a Feb. 16 statement, also on Instagram, in which the family reports that she’d been in an “accident”: “Zoe had an accident Thursday night, February 10th, & sustained severe damage to her brain/brainstem & is in a coma.”
“Unfortunately the doctors are saying the damage cannot be repaired & that she may not have much time left,” the post continues. To cover Bethel’s medical and other expenses, the family created a GoFundMe page, which has raised over $45,000 at the time of writing.
Along with being named Miss Alabama 2021, the mother of one was a conservative commentator who was involved with organizations such as Project Veritas, Liberty University and Turning Point USA.
Bethel was also a reporter for Right Side Broadcasting Network and a brand ambassador and executive producer of Miss Liberty America.
Bethel’s former colleagues and admirers have flocked to social media to mourn the model’s passing.
“I’m shocked and saddened by the death of such a wonderful young lady,” wrote right-wing speaker Brandon Tatum on Instagram. “@zosobe was such a bright spot in every room she entered. She was beautiful inside and out.”
The Truth Gazette offered its condolences on Twitter, writing: “If you were lucky enough to know her, you loved her. Even if you never met her but got the chance to follow her work over the years, you felt like you knew her.
“She just had that big of a personality,” Brilyn Hollyhand, the founder of the news service, added. “She was so incredibly bold in her beliefs and values.”
In another beauty pageant tragedy last month, Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst committed suicide by leaping to her death from a Manhattan building.
