Naked Couple Found Dead After 50' Fall Options

[James]

Guess the roof was sloped. Dumbasses.

Nude couple killed in fall from rooftop
Victims’ clothing found atop office building
By SHALAMA C. JACKSON - scjackson@thestate.com

GERRY MELENDEZ/GMELENDEZ@THESTATE.COM

Columbia authorities are trying to determine why — and how — two naked people fell to their deaths from the roof of a four-story building Wednesday morning.

A man and a woman were found around 5 a.m. lying in the street in the 900 block of Laurel Street across from Finlay Park, police said. They were identified as Brent W. Tyler, 21, of Hilton Head, and Chelsea A. Tumblestone, 21, of the Isle of Palms, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said.

Their clothes were found on the sloping metal roof of the office building at Lincoln and Laurel streets.

“We can only speculate what they were doing up there,” said police spokeswoman Sgt. Florence McCants.

A taxi driver found the victims, who were alive when rescue workers arrived at the scene, McCants said. They were taken to Palmetto Health Richland hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

Autopsies will be conducted today, Watts said.

A car was found parked in the building’s adjacent garage, which police believe is how the two gained access to the roof.

Law firms, an architectural office and a computer-technology business are in the building.

Video cameras at the Strom Thurmond building and the Governor’s Mansion grounds do not show the couple.

“We can’t tell when they went up there or what time they might have fallen right now,” McCants said. “We are continuing to look for what happened.”

Reach Jackson at (803) 771-8512.