Revealed: The desperate last days of Russian supermodel, 20, who took running leap from her New York apartment building 'after joining brutal Rose of the World cult'

Ruslana Korshunova was 20 when she plummeted from a building next door to her apartment in Manhattan's financial district in 2008.

It brought to an end a career that had seen her photographed for Vogue, parade down the catwalk and front luxury ad campaigns, helped along by her flowing hair and a rare genetic quirk that meant her piercing blue eyes always seemed to glisten.

The details of her death have baffled many - but new light may have been shed on her state of mind by an investigation into the Rose of the World cult that she joined shortly before her death.

Details of the cult were revealed to the New York Daily News by journalist Peter Pomerantsev, who researched Korshunova's case for an upcoming book.

In its pages, the Rose cult's reputation for 'dehumanizing' treatment of its followers was spelled out in detail, including meetings characterized by shouting, confusion and emotional domination.

Pomerantsev, who joined the cult to experience it first-hand, said that while he was there its 'coaches' humiliated and blamed members for the wrongs in their lives - and even described Korshunova as a 'typical victim'.

The unnamed male leader said: 'Ruslana was typical victim... [sic] Sometimes it's better to commit suicide than not to change.' 

She was driven to the group after her modelling career took a knock, and at a time her personal life was in disarray after she was jilted repeatedly by rich men who dazzled her with their wealth then left her.Her mother Valentina and brother Ruslan, live in Kazakhstan and at the time of her death, the model had been sending money to support them. 

Investigators found no suicide note but the model had written messages online about her despair over her failed relationship and missing family and friends in Kazakhstan.

They found a hole cut in construction mesh on the ninth floor along with a knife. 

And the fact of her landing so far from the building - having cleared it by 28 feet - suggests that by the end she was certain enough of her fate to take a running leap.

Too bad.

Daily mail