Katharina Buczek
Then, only a few minutes afterward, Justine was seen on security footage running toward an eleventh-floor trash room. Prior to entering the room, Justine texted a friend on Snapchat at 11:22 p.m., writing only, “Something just happened.”
Next, she put down her cell phone and shoes in a stairwell before going into the trash room. This was the final time Justine was ever spotted alive on surveillance footage.
The trash room did not have any security cameras. However, investigators later determined that mere minutes after Justine sent that final text, she fell down the trash chute – a total of 11 stories – and landed in the connecting dumpster.
When Justine didn’t make it back to her apartment that evening, her roommates grew worried and ultimately filed a missing person report on November 11, the following day, at about 5:15 p.m.
At that time, authorities reviewed the building’s security footage and ultimately searched a trash transfer station known as the Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority. This is where the garbage from Justine’s apartment building was moved to. There, investigators found Justine’s body on November 12 at approximately 2:45 a.m.
An autopsy was conducted and confirmed that alcohol and marijuana had been present in Justine’s system when she died. Her cause of death was ruled an accident, the result of multiple acute blunt-force trauma because of her fall, according to the Centre County coroner.
Once the medical examiner confirmed these results, investigators determined foul play was not involved and closed Justine’s case.
However, authorities reportedly never interviewed the man she was hanging out with shortly before her death. The man, who remains unidentified, also would not answer questions from Justine’s family.
Her loved ones are not sure that her death was accidental, finding it hard to believe that Justine would willingly enter a trash chute – even if she was under the influence.
The strange circumstances surrounding her death have caused her case to gain attention on social media, with many believing that a reinvestigation is warranted.
In 2022, Justine’s family launched a Change.org petition to reopen her case. After receiving 5,720 signatures, the petition has since closed, and no recent updates have been shared.
