SUICIDE ON CAM
Park Ave. jumper seen via dog vid
A woman leaped to her death from a Park Avenue building Monday — as the friend she was apartment-sitting for watched in horror in real time from his doggie camera, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
Constance Tyler, 51, of California had a history of psychiatric problems and was experiencing financial woes when she threw herself from the 11th floor of 40 Park Ave. near East 36th Street at around 8:50 a.m., the sources said.
She had been minding the apartment of a friend, who was returning home from the airport when she jumped.
The pal tried reaching her by phone, and when she didn’t answer, he grew concerned and switched on the doggie camera inside the apartment, sources said. That’s when he saw her opening the window and jumping out, sources said.
Tyler landed in a courtyard in the back of the 19-story building, adjacent to The Morgan Library and Museum, according to police. She was pronounced dead at the scene, and her body was removed around 10:20 a.m.
Sources said she did not leave a note. No criminality is suspected.
Neighbors at the Murray Hill rental complex were stunned.
“She never looked or seemed depressed to me,” said Barbara Kane, 57, a financial planner who has lived in the building for 25 years. “She was always happy, always dressed to kill.
“I would see her in the elevator, and she was always smiling, always had something nice to say. I would see her with the dogs — she loved dogs. I would never have known she was depressed.”
Another resident said the woman gave no clue that she may have been struggling.
“I saw her in the elevator a few times. She was always very sweet,” the resident said. “That’s so sad.”
Some neighbors believed Tyler lived in the building, at least at one point, and walked dogs for several residents for the past several years.
Tyler, who lived in Los Angeles and Bakersfield among other places, had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last November, accord- ing to California court records.
The filing showed she had just $339.70 in checking accounts and racked up $141,519 in debt, mostly on credit cards. She listed no monthly income.
In 2007, a woman by the same name sued a now-defunct petsitting company for losing her beloved dog, which ended up drowning.
The area has been the scene of prior suicide attempts.
Deborah Towers, 64, plunged 15 floors from the roof of 55 Park Ave. in a suicide bid in 2016 that left her critically injured.
Cops said she had a history of mental-health issues.