Girl plunges to her death while jumping across Manhattan rooftops with two friends

A Manhattan teenager, whose family owns a popular Chelsea pizzeria, plummeted six stories to her death when she slipped jumping across a rooftop airshaft in Hell’s Kitchen Friday, poli
ce and witnesses said.
Natalya Jimenez, 15, fell into an airshaft on the roof of a 10th Ave. apartment building near W. 48th St. at around 4:30 p.m, witnesses said.

“It was a big thump,” said Leslie Rodriguez, who lives in the back of the building on 699 10th Ave. “I thought someone had slammed the door. I ran down and saw someone lying there. She was in a crouch. It was horrible.”

Jimenez had been hopping across rooftops with two 14-year-old girlfriends before her fall police said. The teen lived above her family’s Famous Original Ray’s Pizza on Ninth Ave. and W. 22nd St. 

Police say she and two friends jumped at least three rooftops before they turned to go back to a building and she plunged to the street.

Multiple Famous Original Ray's Pizza locations belong to the teen's grandfather, WPIX reported.

"She was the best little girl in New York," said her grandfather Rosalino Mangano outside the pizzeria Friday night.

“She was the smartest girl," said Jimenez’s shell-shocked mother Agatha Mangano.

Jimenez was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital after police found her body at the bottom of the four-by-15-foot airshaft.

Her two friends wept as emergency responders took Jimenez’s body out of the building in a black bag, a witness said.

“The two other girls were crying. they couldn’t even speak,” said Kelvin Thompson.