Funerals for the Two Teens who Died Suddenly at NYU
NYU’s Manhattan campus saw two sudden deaths one on Feb. 8 and another on Feb. 10, both still under investigation. Heartbroken family members held one funeral on Feb. 17th while funeral services for the second victim are set for Feb. 23 and 24. Suicide is being investigated as a possibility in both incidents.
One of the two teens who died suddenly at NYU was laid to rest by her heartbroken family on Feb. 17 while services for the second victim are set for Feb. 23 and Feb. 24.
The wake and funeral for 18-year-old Doreah Salti took place on Feb. 17 at the Saint George Orthodox Church located in Cicero, Illinois. The Church announced the family’s request to consider donating in her memory to the Hinsdale Central High School Art Department in lieu of flowers.
A wake for Jacqueline Beauzile has been set for Friday, Feb. 23 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Donohue Cecere Funeral Home, 290 Post Ave., Westbury, NY. It is slated to be followed by a mass of Christian burial on Feb. 24 at 9:30 a.m. at St. Martha’s Church 546 Greengrove Ave., Uniondale, NY.
Police are still investigating the cause of the deaths and NYU has issued little information to its student body on the sudden deaths only two days apart from one another.
One Feb. 8 a university personnel found 19-year-old Beauzile unresponsive in her suite at Lipton Hall, an NYU residence building that typically houses first-year students.
On Feb. 10, around 5:30 p.m., emergency responders answered a 911 call and upon arrival, found Salti unresponsive, having succumbed to injuries after falling from the 5th-floor campus window of the building.
According to a NY Post article, a person close to Salti’s family disputed speculation she died by suicide, pointing to the pending investigation by the city’s medical examiner, and said they believed her death was an accident. She fell to the ground from the fifth floor of an art building at NYU’s downtown campus.
NYU’s dean of students Rafael Rodriguez and other school officials sent out an email notice following the death of Beauzile, without identifying her by name but it was only was sent to residents of Lipton Hall and parents of students in that hall, a copy of which was obtained by Our Town Downtown. NYU had not sent out any student wide email following the two deaths and did not return calls and emails seeking comment.
In an October 2022 Patch article reporting from Salti’s hometown, was highlighted for her participation in a fundraiser organized by We Care Hinsdale, a non-profit dedicated to spreading mental health awareness among teenagers in response to the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The death of any young person is a source of sorrow to the NYU community,” university spokesman John Beckman said to the NY Post, adding that the medical examiner’s investigations were pending.
The yearly tuition and housing costs above $84,000 at NYU. According to NYU’s website, the university offers mental health services to students through its Wellness Exchange program. They provide a 24/7 hotline at 212-443-9999 and an app linked to mental health resources at NYU, featuring a function to chat with Wellness Exchange professionals. Despite this, students have frequently communicated their concern about the increase in deaths by suicide at NYU during mid-terms on X, formerly Twitter.
NYU students also continue to convey their disappointment in the lack of communication to the students about the incidents, as well as the overall secrecy surrounding suicide numbers at NYU. Students have recognized NYU’s lack of response to sudden deaths as a pattern with many tweets on this along with various articles on this topic being published on Washington Square News, the daily student publication for NYU campuses.
An article from 2018 on Washington Square News cited the shock of an NYU student, Emilio Torres, at discovering the news of a fellow student’s death by suicide through an NYU meme page on Instagram. “I was shocked, and didn’t believe it at first,” Torres said to WSN. “It was strange to me that the school hadn’t, and still hasn’t, said anything about it. When I told my roommate, he didn’t believe me at first for the same reason.”
Many have even pointed to the lack of efficiency of the Wellness services in discussions related to recent sudden deaths on the Reddit page of NYU. A parent mentioned, “My child was severely depressed last year and called NYU hotline. (They) Told him to contact his insurance company to find a doctor. Now I understand resources are constrained, but I feel NYU needs to do better.”
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or need mental health support you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. You can also dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org if you live outside NYC.