Victim in lost phone high-rise death near Penn's Landing identified

PHILADELPHIA - August 2, 2013

She is Ngoc Tran Vo, 30, from Northeast Philadelphia.

The incident happened around 4:30 a.m. Friday at the Dockside Residences, located on the 700 block of South Columbus Boulevard near Penn's Landing.

Initially police received a report of a person in the river. But they soon discovered the woman dead on a fourth floor terrace.

"She was out on the balcony on the 12th floor," said Philadelphia Police Captain Larry Nodiff. "She fell and in fact landed on the fourth floor patio of another resident's property."

Police say Vo worked as an entertainer at Club Risque on Columbus Boulevard in Pennsport.

She met a man there Thursday night and went to his 12th floor rented apartment.

Around 4:00 a.m., she called security and said she had dropped her cell phone from the balcony and wondered if they could retrieve it. She was told other residents were sleeping and she would need to wait until morning.

About 20 minutes later, she was discovered dead on the terrace 8 stories below. Police believe she may have been looking over the railing for her phone and fell.

Neighbors heard nothing prior to the police response.

"Never heard a thing," Dennis Bing told Action News. "Heard sirens and just turned over and went back to sleep."

Later on Friday police towed two cars from the building. They are awaiting autopsy and toxicology results.

"At this point, we are investigating all aspects," said Nodiff. "So far, there doesn't seem to be other than indications of an unfortunate accident."

Action News reached out to Club Risque. They had no comment.

Dockside management put out a statement sending condolences to Vo's family and friends.

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