Who was Yocheved Gourarie? Brooklyn woman, 24, jumps to death from Hudson Yard Vessel after scheduling suicide note
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: A 24-year-old New York City woman wrote a suicide note stating she was "no longer in pain" on Instagram before jumping to her death from the Vessel sculpture in Hudson Yards. The message appeared a day after her death on her social media account.
Yocheved Gourarie of Brooklyn, died on December 22, 2020, after she jumped from the 150-foot walkable sculpture at about noon, police told the Village Sun. Later, on December 23, her apparent suicide note was shared in a posthumous post on her Instagram account.
In the Instagram post, she wrote, "Hey. This is pretty surreal isn’t it? One might say uncomfortable. Jarring. Just close the app now if you want. I guess if you don’t know by now you should probably sit down. If you’re reading this, I’m gone. Either that or somehow incapacitated in the hospital so I can’t delete this scheduled post. I really hope I’m not though. I don’t care to go into the reasons why I’m gone, but there are certainly more than thirteen."
The note continued, "I scheduled a note to send to my parents posthumously; if they choose to share or publish it you may be privy to more insight. I will leave that choice up to them. Even just publishing this may pain them. I don’t want to do that, I just want to leave my last mark on this world. All of you have made my life so much more full, brighter, and happier than it would have been without you."
She added, "Your support, your encouragement, your hugs, your invitations, your smiles, your texts, your tagging me in memes you think I’d find funny. None of you could have done anything - or done more - to prevent this from happening. You all did your absolute best and for that I am eternally grateful. I hope you can find some comfort in knowing I am no longer in pain. I love you. Yocheved."
On Tuesday, December 22, she rode the subway into Manhattan and bought a ticket to the Vessel, a popular tourist attraction. After she reached the highest level of the structure, Gourarie, who was suffering from depression and anorexia, climbed onto the railing and jumped, police stated.
According to her LinkedIn page, Gourarie completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology and neuroscience from CUNY’s Macaulay Honors College. Just a week before her death, she posted a heartbreaking, clearly cherished clip of herself singing 'Moon River' as her composer and musician father, Avremi, played an electric piano.
Her Instagram posts show that she had openly shared her struggle with mental illness, and expressed gratitude for the support she had received. According to her TikTok videos, Gourarie traveled to Utah for inpatient treatment for her eating disorder in August and returned to New York City in late October, after her discharge date got postponed by two weeks. For the past two years, she was interning at New York City's National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene.
Gourarie is the second person to commit suicide by falling from the Vessel since it was opened in March 2019. In February 2020 Connecticut college student, 19-year-old Peter DeSalvo, jumped from the top of the 16-story sculpture.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, you can get help by contacting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.