

[UPDATES BELOW, including suggestion that it may have been an accident] A 29-year-old woman was found bleeding from the neck this morning in the stairwell of an Orchard Street apartment building on the Lower East Side and died shortly after. An NYPD spokeswoman said that police responded to 191 Orchard Street at approximately 11 a.m. and found the woman "with a slash wound to the neck. She was bleeding heavily." The woman was pronounced dead at Beth Israel Hospital. The Local East Village spoke with an unnamed resident of the building, who said, "It was a big mess. There was blood everywhere."

The resident, who did not recognize the victim as someone who lived in the building, said that a medic told them the woman's injuries did not appear to indicate that she had received them by falling down the stairs. “She did not look like she was homeless or a hooker,” the resident added. “She had too many accoutrements of the average American young person in her 20s: An iPhone and wallet full of plastic.” The wallet reportedly included a Missouri drivers license. The Lo-Down reports that police are still on the scene.

[UPDATE] Police say the 29-year-old victim's name is Carlisle Brigham. The Wall Street Journal reports that police spoke to the victim's roommate, who called her "distraught" when he last spoke to her this morning on the phone. Authorities are now seeking the victim's 34-year-old husband for questioning.

[UPDATE 2]The Lo-Down is reporting that while the Medical Examiner is investigating whether the victim died of her knife wounds or from falling down the stairs, police are questioning her husband. A police source said that Brigham was staying at the apartment because she was estranged from her husband.

According to a wedding announcement in the New York Times published a year ago, Carlisle Vose Brigham, then 28, married Anthony Lindley Champalimaud, then 33. The announcement notes that the bride's father runs an investment bank in St. Louis. The Local East Village reported earlier today that a Missouri drivers license was found on the victim. An ABC affiliate recently tweeted, "The daughter of prominent investment banker found, throat slashed on Lower East Side. Who killed Carlisle Brigham-Champalimaud? EWN at 5PM."

The Times notes that the victim's father, James R. Brigham Jr., was a former budget director for New York City.

[UPDATE 3]: Brigham's husband Anthony Champilimaud is reportedly in London.

[UPDATE 4, August 28]: Now it's believed that Brigham's death may have been accidental, because she was allegedly "drinking heavily" and wearing high heels.

[UPDATE 5] The Medical Examiner has ruled Brigham's death an accident.