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20-year-old college girl dies after falling from a balcony three stories after her Airbnb was blocked and she tried to climb into her room while on vacation with her boyfriend in Cancun
- Leah Pearse died on January 6 after falling from the third-floor balcony of her Airbnb rental in Cancun.
- The Massachusetts nursing student had argued with her boyfriend, Augustine Aufderheide, moments earlier, but was cleared of any wrongdoing.
- The couple had spent the day at the beach and left the keys in the apartment, prompting Pearse to go up to the balcony to get inside.
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A 20-year-old Massachusetts college student died after falling from a three-story balcony when she lost access to her Airbnb vacation rental.
Leah Pearse, 20, was in Cancun with her boyfriend Augustine Aufderheide, 21, and had spent the day at the beach and having dinner in the resort town.
But they had left the keys inside the apartment and it was locked when they returned. Aufderheide told police the couple got into an argument before Pearse tried to climb over the balcony to get inside.
Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene after falling from the third story of the building.
Leah Pearse, a college student from Massachusetts, died on January 6 in Cancun after she left her keys inside her Airbnb rental and fell three stories while trying to climb over her balcony. Her boyfriend, Augustin Aufderheide, told police the couple had argued moments before she fell off the balcony.
Augustin Aufderheide was arrested by Cancun police moments after the tragic death of his girlfriend, Leah Pearse, on January 6, but was cleared of any wrongdoing after investigators were able to confirm that Pearse had accidentally fallen from the balcony he I was trying to climb.
Cancun authorities arrested Aufderheide as part of the investigation following the accident, the Mexican news portal NotiCaribe reported.
Aufderheide admitted to police officers that he had argued with Pearse moments before she walked out of the balcony.
But he was cleared of any wrongdoing after police confirmed the incident was an accident and was released on Thursday.
Pearse worked as a nursing assistant at Massachusetts General Hospital while pursuing a master’s degree in nursing at Simmons College.
‘She worked her heart out and was getting straight A’s. Leah was having a phenomenal time in college, making connections with everyone she knew. If you knew Leah, you know that she laid everything on the table from the beginning,” her obituary read.
“People felt like they knew her after the first interaction and often fell in love with her immediately for the reassurance her presence brought to every room she walked into. Her confidence, her compassion and her surprising sense of humor had a magnetic effect and she tended to bring out the best in the people around her.’
Pearse worked as a nursing assistant at Massachusetts General Hospital and was also pursuing a master’s degree in nursing at Simmons College.
Augustine Aufderheide was detained after his girlfriend accidentally fell from a third-floor balcony in Cancun on January 6. He was cleared by the police and released this week.
Pearse’s death comes two months after three Americans died of carbon monoxide poisoning in their Airbnb rental in Mexico City.
Authorities found Jordan Marshall and Kandace Florence, both 28, and Courtez Hall, 33, dead inside the home after Florence’s boyfriend contacted the apartment’s host and requested a wellness check.
Florence reportedly informed her boyfriend during a conversation on the night of October 30 that she was not feeling well.
The phone call was suddenly cut short, and after being unable to get her back on the phone, she reached out to the Airbnb host and asked if they could visit the residence to see how she was doing.
Security at the apartment complex requested the assistance of Mexico City police after detecting a strong smell of gas in the trio’s apartment, according to the Mexico City prosecutor’s office.