Katharina Buczek
In 2021, Justine Gross was a 19-year-old Penn State University student known for her determination and spirited personality.
While attending high school in Summit, New Jersey, she was a varsity cheerleader and an honors student. Justine was also a lifelong member of Kumon, moving from student to tutor/grader at the age of 14.
She went on to attend UCLA Summer Programs before beginning her college career at Penn State. While there, Justine completed two summer internships at BNY Mellon and was a part of Volé, a dance organization.
“She loved music, dancing, learning about fashion and makeup, and lovingly teasing her family members. Justine had a vibrant and infectious personality that helped her connect with others easily,” her obituary reads.
Yet, during the fall semester of her sophomore year, Justine tragically died after plummeting 11 stories down a trash chute in her apartment building.
At the time, she had been living on the tenth floor of Beaver Terrace Apartments, which is only one block away from Penn State’s campus. And one evening, November 10, 2021, Justine wound up going downstairs to the seventh floor in order to hang out with a guy – whom she’d reportedly met two days earlier.
While she was in the man’s apartment, he supposedly offered Justine marijuana. Then, she reportedly had an adverse reaction and began to panic.
Security footage from the apartment building captured Justine leaving the man’s apartment. She was seemingly unsteady and swaying.
The man later claimed that he had tried to get Justine back to her own apartment, but she reportedly fled.
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