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Kryst fell from the Orion Condominium about 7
a.m. ET on Sunday, the New York City Police Department said. A
police spokesperson told Reuters on Monday the death was being
investigated as a suicide.
Kryst, who won the Miss USA pageant in 2019, was 30.
“In devastation and great sorrow, we share the passing of our
beloved Cheslie,” Kryst's family said in a statement. "Her great
light was one that inspired others around the world with her
beauty and strength."
Kryst earned an MBA and a law degree from Wake Forest University
in North Carolina. Before entering the Miss USA pageant, she
worked as an attorney, providing pro bono legal work for inmates
who were served unjust prison sentences, the Washington Post
said.
She was a part of a group of five Black women who won the five
major global beauty pageants in 2019, the first time ever, the
Post reported.
Kryst's victory in the contest was marked by her wearing her
natural free-flowing curls.
"So, I was a little bit worried and anxious about doing it, but
I thought, ‘I want to do it as the most real and authentic me,’
and that’s really what my hair represents,” she said in an
interview with Refinery29.com.
After she won, Kryst began working as a correspondent for the
entertainment show “Extra."
"Our hearts are broken. Cheslie was not just a vital part of our
show, she was a beloved part of our 'Extra' family and touched
the entire staff," the show's producers said in a statement.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Nick Macfie and Howard
Goller)
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