Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Summer Equitz
Topics: Disney, Disneyland, US News, Mental Health
Anish Vij
Topics: Disney, Disneyland, US News, Mental Health
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
A woman who was reported missing from her Illinois home was tragically found dead at Disney World in Florida by an 'apparent suicide'.
The body has been identified as Summer Equitz by the Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The 30-year-old of Naperville, Chicago died of 'multiple blunt impact injuries' at Disney World's Contemporary Resort near Magic Kingdom on 14 October, according to a medical report seen by Click Orlando. Her death is being ruled as a suicide but no further details have been given.
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It comes after there were suggestions on social media that an individual was struck by a monorail at the park.
However, a spokesperson for the force confirmed to People that Equitz 'was not struck by the monorail, so that is erroneous information'.
“She booked a flight there without telling us, unfortunately,” a person claiming to be her relative wrote in a now-deleted post on Reddit after calling for help with her search, according to The Sun.
The Disney superfan reportedly spent her honeymoon at Walt Disney World in 2024 with her husband and later announced her pregnancy that December.
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Her social media often highlighted her love for Disney, featuring frequent park visits and a 2021 photo with Disney CEO Bob Iger captioned: “My life has peaked.”
Between 2012 and 2015, it appears that she worked at Disneyland in California as a character performer and entertainment host, before pursuing social media consultancy.
In a blog post on the Yorba Linda Spotlight Theater, she said her dream job would be to play 'Belle from Beauty and the Beast'.
"But my other dream roles would be Elle from Legally Blonde, Ursula from The Little Mermaid or Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady," she added.
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"I would say that acting is my strongest, I have always been an actor first and a dancer and singer second.
"Although I am better at just doing plays I find them boring, musicals are just so much more fun."
Disney historian Jim Hill said the hotel has been the site of multiple suicides over the years.
“There’s this weird phenomenon where people who are severely depressed but want to have that one last good happy family memory will go to Walt Disney World,” Hill told the New York Post.
LADbible Group has contacted Disney World for comment.
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If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.