The lost girl

Why did a hauntingly beautiful 20-year-old supermodel kill herself? Filmmaker Peter Pomerantsev describes his three-year quest for clues, and answers

June 28, 2008, 2.30pm: Water Street, the corner of Wall Street, in Manhattan. A headache-making hot, New York high summer. A Saturday, the bankers are away, the street is empty — apart from the dead girl in the middle of the road. Police report the deceased is a Russian supermodel, Ruslana Korshunova.

“Her death is a suspected suicide by jumping from the building site next to her ninth-floor apartment. No signs of a struggle detected. No alcohol or drugs in her blood or urine. She left no note. She was 20. She landed 8.5 metres from the building.”