Missing 27-Year-Old NYC Woman Jessica Scarpone Found Dead In Apartment — What We Know
No one knows how she died.
Instagram A young woman has been found mysteriously dead in her Manhattan apartment. Jessica Scarpone was last seen going for a run in New York on Monday but then her friends and family didn't hear from her for several days. Finally, her brother called 911 and asked police to go check on her. On Wednesday morning, police went to her apartment and found her dead. There was no sign of how she died and her family said she had no known medical conditions.
Who was Jessica Scarpone and how did she die? Read on for all the details.
1. Artist and illustrator
Jessy Scarpone was an artist who provided illustrations for magazines such as Cooking Light and The Coastal Table, according to her official website. She includes a biography on the site which says: "Jessy graduated from the Savannah College of Art & Design with a BFA in Illustration in June 2015. She soon moved to New York City, to work as an Illustrator and stylist for lifestyle photography at an online publication. In September 2018, she returned to Savannah to pursue an MA in Graphic Design & Visual Experience. Aside from her artistic pursuits, Jessy is an avid runner, cookie connoisseur, part-time philosopher and a decent joke-teller."
2. Back in the Big Apple
After her return to Georgia to finish up her MFA, Jessy moved back to New York to pick up her art career again. In an Instagram post dated June 16, 2019, she posted a photo of New York skyscrapers and the caption "back like I never left." In New York, she was active with a group called the Dashing Whippets Running Club and appeared to have an active social and professional life.
3. Running for health and more
Scarpone had been a competitive runner in college and continued it as a hobby after graduation. In another Instagram post, Scarpone talked about getting her start running while she was attending community college. The photo shows her running in a large field at an unidentified race. The caption reads:
"no one:
me: let me talk about running. i started running when I was in community college at 19 to lose weight. It has since done so much more for me than that. But now as I have not even a measly season of eligibility left, Idk what to do. I feel slow & jiggly & rusty & uncertain. I wanted to take a long break & leave running in the dust, but it doesn’t feel right. So I think the only logical thing left to do is force myself to keep forging ahead — and find a race A$AP"
Running was her passion.
4. Shorted her last run
In her final Instagram post she was talking again about running. She indicated that she skipped some miles in favor of a goodbye party for a friend, something she considered worth it. The caption on the photo read: "was supposed to long run, ended up bidding adieu to @hannahliebz before she becomes a prairie girl upstate. 10/10, would do again." According to The Heavy: she went into more details about her final run on the running site Strava where she wrote: “This was gonna be 11/12 miles to make up for missing yesterday, but after 2/3, I could tell it just wasn’t gonna happen. I’ve really been trying to mentally and physically get back into things, and something’s just not clicking. Yes, I could be doing better on sleep. Yes, it’s hot out. Yes, my mileage hasn’t been ideal Blah blah blah.”
Jessy chose a night out over a run.
5. Missing since Monday
Her run on Monday was the last anyone had seen of Jessica. A friend circulated a missing person poster on social media that said her last known whereabouts were on the Upper West Side, according to her running stats on Strava. In the tweet, the friend wrote: "[M]y best friend Jessy Scarpone is a runner in New York and was last seen Monday at 8:15 pm. Included is a photo of her last run. She is 27. Would not have run away."
Her mother and brother were also involved in trying to find her. The Heavy reports that her mother filed a missing persons report after not hearing from her daughter for several days. On Wednesday, her brother called 911 and had the police go check Jessy's apartment.
Friends were trying to locate Jessy.
6. Discovery of her death
When police arrived at her apartment on Wednesday morning, they found that Jessy was there but she had passed away. According to the New York Daily News, she was face up in her bed when police entered the apartment but she was declared dead on the scene.
Other New York runners rallied to find her.
7. Cause of death a mystery
The reasons for Jessy's death are truly a mystery at this time. According to police, there were no signs of trauma on her body. Jessy had no history of drug use or known medical conditions. Police also told the New York Daily News that there was no obvious indication that she had committed suicide and no signs of forced entry into her apartment. Her cause of death is entirely unknown at this time.
A recent drawing by Jessy.
The case is being turned over to the coroner who will perform an autopsy to try and answer the question of how she died.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side. She is the creator of the blog Stay at Home Pundit and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.