Miss Alabama Zoe Bethel ingested substance, fell off balcony in ‘tragic accident,’ police say
The beauty queen was reportedly overheard praying before the fall that led to her death.
New details have emerged about the circumstances leading to the death of Miss Alabama for America Strong 2021, Zoe Sozo Bethel, who died from severe injuries sustained after a fall from a balcony of a Miami condo building last month.
The specific events related to the tragedy come from The Daily Mail, which states it obtained a police report from the City of Miami Police Department. TheGrio previously reported that Bethel was injured when she sustained life-threatening injuries from an unspecified accident on Feb. 10 and slipped into a coma.
According to the Daily Mail, Bethel allegedly took an “unknown amount of unknown suspected narcotics” while at a restaurant with brother, Santiago Roman, and later behaved erratically.
The Christian beauty queen ingested “a mystery cannabis substance” in the hours before she ran at “full speed” towards a balcony railing on the third floor of her brother’s apartment building, according to the Daily Mail‘s account of the police report. Bethel was reportedly overheard praying with another brother who was on the phone with her before the accident, the article states.
Roman, who witnessed the fall, said his sister would not have intentionally jumped to her death. According to a document published by the Daily Mail and identified as the police report, Bethel was pacing in the hallway of his building, and when he tried to summon her back into his apartment, she ran in the opposite direction.
“Mr. Roman called out the victim’s name to tell her to get back inside. The victim looked back and took off running full speed straight ahead. Mr. Roman stated that the victim was not aware of the balcony railing in front of her,” the post report states. “The victim’s bottom part of her body hit the railing and she fell over, landing on the first-floor parking lot. Mr. Roman ran down to the first-floor parking lot,” it concluded, “and observed the victim bleeding from the head and nose.”
She died more than a week later.
The news of her passing was announced by Bethel’s family on her Instagram page, where they wrote, “On Friday, February 18, 2022, at approximately 5:30 AM Eastern time in Miami, Florida, our beloved Zoe Sozo Bethel passed from this life into the next as a result of succumbing to her injuries.”
Roman said Bethel told him she was ingesting a form of cannabis she received from a friend to help her relax, the report states. After dinner, Roman and Bethel returned to his apartment at the La Piazza Navona condo building in Miami, where he says she began acting strange and complaining that she was feeling hot.
“The victim took off her clothing and went to take a shower. Mr. Roman stated that even after taking a shower the victim was still not feeling well and began acting very erratically,” the police report states, as shown in The Daily Mail. “Mr. Roman then called their brother Mr. Zion Bethel by phone to inform him of the victim’s behavior. Mr. Zion Bethel began to pray out loud with the victim in order to calm her down.”
“Mr. Roman went into the bedroom to blow up the air mattress where the victim had been sleeping while visiting him from out of town. While Mr. Roman was in the bedroom, he heard the door to the apartment open. Mr. Roman then went out and observed the victim walking near the elevator,” the report continued. His sister subsequently bolted away from him as he called her back into his unit.
Authorities initially investigated her death as a suicide attempt before ruling that it was a “tragic accident.”
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