A recent contestant on “America’s Next Top Model” was killed in a triple slaying in Charlotte, North Carolina, police and the reality show’s producers said on Wednesday.
Police said Mirjana Puhar, 19, was among three people whose bodies were found in a home Tuesday night. Emmanuel Jesus Rangel, 19, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with three counts of murder, Charlotte police said in a statement.
The incident appears to be drug-related and that the victims and suspect knew one another, police said.
Puhar appeared in the modeling show’s 21st cycle, which began airing last August.
“We are deeply saddened to learn of the tragic news about Mirjana Puhar,” the show’s executive producers Tyra Banks and Ken Mok said in a statement. “She was a vivacious and promising young woman. Our hearts and prayers go out to her loved ones.”
Banks, 41, who rose to prominence as a top-earning fashion model, is the host and creator of “America’s Next Top Model,” which has its own iterations in several countries.
(Reuters)
