By . Meghan Keneally and Louise Boyle . PUBLISHED: . 07:27 EST, 29 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 10:37 EST, 29 August 2012 . A young woman from a wealthy New York family, who was found dead at the bottom of a Manhattan stairwell, had been due to enter rehab following the collapse of her marriage, sources claimed. Carlisle Brigham, 29, had suffered a . massive wound to her neck, a shattered chin and compound fractures to . her arms - possibly after tripping on her high heels following a night out to celebrate a friend's wedding. Her father James Brigham, the city's former budget chief, was reportedly so concerned about her well-being following the collapse of her year-long marriage that he had flown in from St Louis to take his distraught daughter to a rehab facility. He was believed to have spoken to her after landing at La Guardia airport at 9.30am on Monday and had planned to meet his daughter for lunch. Before their estrangement: Carlisle Brigham and Anthony Champalimaud pose together. Ms Brigham died after what appears to be a tragic accident on the stairwell of the Manhattan apartment she was staying at . Ms Brigham was discovered, dressed all in white, lying in a pool of blood just before 11 am on Monday at the bottom of a treacherously steep stairwell in the Lower East Side. The severity of her injuries made investigators initially believe she had been . murdered. However, the New York City Chief Medical . examiner ruled that Ms Brigham, whose father is now the chairman of a St Louis investment bank, died in a tragic 'freak accident' after suffering blunt trauma to her head and neck. Initial autopsy results were unclear whether alcohol may have played a role in her death. According to the New York Post, the night before her death, Ms Brigham had returned from a  wedding in Washington D.C. and gone to Sixth Ward, a bar next door to the apartment where she had been staying. Attending the wedding was difficult for her, her father told the New York Times, coming a week after her first wedding anniversary. Ms Brigham married 34-year-old Anthony Lindley Champalimaud last year in Newport, Rhode Island but the couple were separated three months ago - although hoped to work out their relationship. Talented: Ms Brigham was a skilled model maker at the Natural History Museum in New York . Tragic: Carlisle Brigham (with unidentified friends) died after a fall down stairs in a New York apartment building shortly before she was to meet her father for lunch . She was living in the Lower . East Side with another man at the time of her death, believed . to be old college friend John Madtes, because she had lost the keys . to her own apartment. Though neighbors performed CPR on her . body, she was transported to Beth Israel Medical Center in an ambulance just before her father arrived at the apartment. The young woman was . pronounced dead a short time later. It is believed that a heavy bag and slippery stairs may have contributed to her fatal fall. A spokesman for the medical examiner . said that Ms Brigham did not bleed to death and her injuries were . consistent with a heavy blow to her head and neck. Distraught: The college friend that Ms Brigham was believed to have been staying with on the Lower East Side returns to the building where she died . Late night: Ms Brigham had been at this bar with friends the night before her death after attending a weekend wedding in Washington D.C. One resident of 191 Orchard St said that he attempted to perform CPR on Brigham but she was already dead when he found her. 'Her body was actually quite cold,' said 19-year-old Mizanur Rahman. 'The whole floor was just blood. 'I knew something had gone seriously wrong when I flipped her over. There was blood in nose, there was blood coming out of the mouth and a huge gash on her chin.' Another resident Lippy Khair, 27, said: 'She was wearing all white. White top, white pants. And she had really high heels.' Her father, James Brigham Jr., served . as the New York City budget officer in the late 1970s before moving to . St. Louis and turning to private equity at Warson Capital Partners in . St. Louis. Turmoil: Ms Brigham married her husband Anthony Champalimaud (right) last year but the couple was said to be estranged and he is thought to have been in London on business at the time of her death . Grief: James Brigham, a prominent investment banker, was on the way to meet his daughter for lunch after flying in from St Louis that morning . The former mayor of New York, Ed Koch, for whom James Brigham worked said that her grief-stricken father called him yesterday. 'He was sobbing,' said Koch to the New York Post. 'He told me that she had died and that it was apparently a fall...a freak accident. 'Wonderful young woman. I just was overwhelmed with grief and still am.' Ms Brigham's estranged husband Mr Champalimaud works for a hotel design firm run by his mother and . was in London on business when his wife was found. Mr Champalimaud . is the vice president of YLT Hotels and Properties and has a leading . role in the operations at the five-star Gainsborough Hotel in Bath, . England. Police in front of 191 Orchard Street, investigating the death of  Carlisle Brigham, 29, the daughter of a leading investment banker, after she was found with her throat sliced open in the stairwell . The stairwell in Orchard Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side where Carlisle Brigham died . Scene: Ms Brigham was staying at 191 Orchard Street - slippery stairs and a heavy bag may have contributed to her fall . Distraught: The roommate who was living with Ms Brigham in the Lower East Side apartment building said that he got a phone call from the 29-year-old Monday morning and she 'sounded distraught' Fatal fall: The 29-year-old's death was described as a 'freak accident' A . law enforcement official told the Journal that Ms Brigham was staying . with a male roommate in an apartment in 191 Orchard Street, and she was . found bleeding on the second floor landing of the building. The . roommate told police that the last time he heard from Ms Brigham was . shortly before her death, when she called him at work and 'sounded . distraught'. The Local East Village blog of The New York Times reports that an unnamed resident of the building found her and spoke to police extensively after they arrived on the scene. 'She did not look like she was homeless or a hooker,' the resident, who is also a medic, told The Local East Village reporter. 'She had too many accouterments of the average American young person in her 20s: An iPhone and wallet full of plastic. 'She had compound fractures in her arm and she was cut.' Her death was confirmed by former Mayor Ed Koch, who worked with her father James Brigham Jr. from 1978 to 1981. 'They are wonderful people. She was absolutely extraordinarily beautiful. It just shook me as if I were kicked by a horse. It’s just awful,' Mr Koch said. Ms Brigham worked as an exhibit installation specialist at the American Museum of Natural History from 2007 to April of this year, and graduated from University of Mary Washington. Ms Brigham and Mr Champalimaud married in August 2011 in the chapel at St. George's School, an elite boarding high school in Newport, Rhode Island, from which the groom graduated in 1996.
Carlisle Brigham, 29, 'tripped on her heels' in Lower East Side building .
'Large purse and slippery stairs' may have contributed to fatal fall .
Father had arrived in city from St Louis that morning to help daughter who was 'distraught' over collapse of her marriage .
Discovered around 11am on Monday dressed all in white and lying in a pool of blood on the floor .
Police initially thought she had been murdered but autopsy revealed it was a 'freak accident'
Was staying in building with male college friend at time of death .
By . Meghan Keneally and Louise Boyle . PUBLISHED: . 07:27 EST, 29 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 10:37 EST, 29 August 2012 . A young woman from a wealthy New York family, who was found dead at the bottom of a Manhattan stairwell, had been due to enter rehab following the collapse of her marriage, sources claimed. Carlisle Brigham, 29, had suffered a . massive wound to her neck, a shattered chin and compound fractures to . her arms - possibly after tripping on her high heels following a night out to celebrate a friend's wedding. Her father James Brigham, the city's former budget chief, was reportedly so concerned about her well-being following the collapse of her year-long marriage that he had flown in from St Louis to take his distraught daughter to a rehab facility. He was believed to have spoken to her after landing at La Guardia airport at 9.30am on Monday and had planned to meet his daughter for lunch. Before their estrangement: Carlisle Brigham and Anthony Champalimaud pose together. Ms Brigham died after what appears to be a tragic accident on the stairwell of the Manhattan apartment she was staying at . Ms Brigham was discovered, dressed all in white, lying in a pool of blood just before 11 am on Monday at the bottom of a treacherously steep stairwell in the Lower East Side. The severity of her injuries made investigators initially believe she had been . murdered. However, the New York City Chief Medical . examiner ruled that Ms Brigham, whose father is now the chairman of a St Louis investment bank, died in a tragic 'freak accident' after suffering blunt trauma to her head and neck. Initial autopsy results were unclear whether alcohol may have played a role in her death. According to the New York Post, the night before her death, Ms Brigham had returned from a  wedding in Washington D.C. and gone to Sixth Ward, a bar next door to the apartment where she had been staying. Attending the wedding was difficult for her, her father told the New York Times, coming a week after her first wedding anniversary. Ms Brigham married 34-year-old Anthony Lindley Champalimaud last year in Newport, Rhode Island but the couple were separated three months ago - although hoped to work out their relationship. Talented: Ms Brigham was a skilled model maker at the Natural History Museum in New York . Tragic: Carlisle Brigham (with unidentified friends) died after a fall down stairs in a New York apartment building shortly before she was to meet her father for lunch . She was living in the Lower . East Side with another man at the time of her death, believed . to be old college friend John Madtes, because she had lost the keys . to her own apartment. Though neighbors performed CPR on her . body, she was transported to Beth Israel Medical Center in an ambulance just before her father arrived at the apartment. The young woman was . pronounced dead a short time later. It is believed that a heavy bag and slippery stairs may have contributed to her fatal fall. A spokesman for the medical examiner . said that Ms Brigham did not bleed to death and her injuries were . consistent with a heavy blow to her head and neck. Distraught: The college friend that Ms Brigham was believed to have been staying with on the Lower East Side returns to the building where she died . Late night: Ms Brigham had been at this bar with friends the night before her death after attending a weekend wedding in Washington D.C. One resident of 191 Orchard St said that he attempted to perform CPR on Brigham but she was already dead when he found her. 'Her body was actually quite cold,' said 19-year-old Mizanur Rahman. 'The whole floor was just blood. 'I knew something had gone seriously wrong when I flipped her over. There was blood in nose, there was blood coming out of the mouth and a huge gash on her chin.' Another resident Lippy Khair, 27, said: 'She was wearing all white. White top, white pants. And she had really high heels.' Her father, James Brigham Jr., served . as the New York City budget officer in the late 1970s before moving to . St. Louis and turning to private equity at Warson Capital Partners in . St. Louis. Turmoil: Ms Brigham married her husband Anthony Champalimaud (right) last year but the couple was said to be estranged and he is thought to have been in London on business at the time of her death . Grief: James Brigham, a prominent investment banker, was on the way to meet his daughter for lunch after flying in from St Louis that morning . The former mayor of New York, Ed Koch, for whom James Brigham worked said that her grief-stricken father called him yesterday. 'He was sobbing,' said Koch to the New York Post. 'He told me that she had died and that it was apparently a fall...a freak accident. 'Wonderful young woman. I just was overwhelmed with grief and still am.' Ms Brigham's estranged husband Mr Champalimaud works for a hotel design firm run by his mother and . was in London on business when his wife was found. Mr Champalimaud . is the vice president of YLT Hotels and Properties and has a leading . role in the operations at the five-star Gainsborough Hotel in Bath, . England. Police in front of 191 Orchard Street, investigating the death of  Carlisle Brigham, 29, the daughter of a leading investment banker, after she was found with her throat sliced open in the stairwell . The stairwell in Orchard Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side where Carlisle Brigham died . Scene: Ms Brigham was staying at 191 Orchard Street - slippery stairs and a heavy bag may have contributed to her fall . Distraught: The roommate who was living with Ms Brigham in the Lower East Side apartment building said that he got a phone call from the 29-year-old Monday morning and she 'sounded distraught' Fatal fall: The 29-year-old's death was described as a 'freak accident' A . law enforcement official told the Journal that Ms Brigham was staying . with a male roommate in an apartment in 191 Orchard Street, and she was . found bleeding on the second floor landing of the building. The . roommate told police that the last time he heard from Ms Brigham was . shortly before her death, when she called him at work and 'sounded . distraught'. The Local East Village blog of The New York Times reports that an unnamed resident of the building found her and spoke to police extensively after they arrived on the scene. 'She did not look like she was homeless or a hooker,' the resident, who is also a medic, told The Local East Village reporter. 'She had too many accouterments of the average American young person in her 20s: An iPhone and wallet full of plastic. 'She had compound fractures in her arm and she was cut.' Her death was confirmed by former Mayor Ed Koch, who worked with her father James Brigham Jr. from 1978 to 1981. 'They are wonderful people. She was absolutely extraordinarily beautiful. It just shook me as if I were kicked by a horse. It’s just awful,' Mr Koch said. Ms Brigham worked as an exhibit installation specialist at the American Museum of Natural History from 2007 to April of this year, and graduated from University of Mary Washington. Ms Brigham and Mr Champalimaud married in August 2011 in the chapel at St. George's School, an elite boarding high school in Newport, Rhode Island, from which the groom graduated in 1996.
marriage, sources claimed. Carlisle Brigham, 29, discovered, dressed all in white, lying in a pool of blood just before 11 am on Monday at the made investigators initially believe she had been with another man at the time of her death, believed that a heavy bag and slippery stairs may have contributed to her fatal fall. A spokesman neck. Distraught: The college friend that Ms the Lower East Side returns to the building where daughter for lunch after flying in from St Louis apparently a fall...a freak accident. 'Wonderful Journal that Ms Brigham was staying . with a male