Father mourns daughter’s fatal fall at ‘Stranger Things’ site: ‘She was perfect’

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Atlanta police say a pregnant teenager lost her unborn child after she and another young adult were shot near an Interstate 285 ramp Saturday evening.

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - A DeKalb County father is urging young people to stay out of abandoned buildings after his 19-year-old daughter died while exploring a fenced-off property on Emory University’s campus last week.

Police said Leah Palmirotto was checking out the vacant Briarcliff Road building with friends Friday morning when she fell from the five-story structure. The site is widely known as a filming location for the Netflix series "Stranger Things." Security is now guarding the area.

Family photos of 19-year-old Leah Palmirotto show the young woman whose father says she "was perfect." (FOX 5 Atlanta obtained permission from the rights holder)

Deadly fall at Emory's Briarcliff campus

What we know:

DeKalb County police say the fatal fall happened shortly before 1 a.m. Friday at a vacant building on Emory University’s Briarcliff campus near North Decatur Road. Officers said Palmirotto was part of a group that had been exploring the abandoned five-story structure when she fell and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators believe the group got inside by climbing over a chain-link fence surrounding the property. 

Police said the investigation remains active. 

Remembering Leah Palmirotto

What they're saying:

Her father, Todd Palmirotto Jr. said officers came to his door with the news.

"She was perfect," he said. "I just, I was blown away. I just wasn’t sure."

Investigators said the group had entered the abandoned building when the fall occurred. Palmirotto believes his daughter had visited the property before.

"Going to these places are dangerous, being with people that you really don’t know, like we just kind of always had something in the back of our mind that something could happen," he said.

Family photos of 19-year-old Leah Palmirotto show the young woman whose father says she "was perfect."  (FOX 5 Atlanta obtained permission from the rights holder)

Detectives are still working to determine what led to the fatal fall. Her father said he is praying that her final moments were not painful.

"I’m just hoping it was instant. I just hope she felt no pain," he said.

Leah’s dad said her death will be especially difficult for her two brothers, Devan and Lucca.

The family is planning a vigil for her this week.

‘Stranger Things’ filming site

Dig deeper:

The building, now called Building A, once housed the Georgia Mental Health Institute psychiatric hospital before Emory acquired the site. It is widely known as a filming location, including serving as Hawkins National Laboratory in the Netflix series "Stranger Things," and has appeared in other productions such as "The Vampire Diaries."

What you can do:

A fundraiser has been set up to help Leah’s family with burial costs. That can be found at https://gofund.me/851bf6164

An informal memorial for family and friends will take place at a Kennesaw park on Dec. 23.