A Georgia father is issuing a stark warning about the perils of exploring deserted structures following the tragic death of his 19-year-old daughter in Atlanta.

According to a report by FOX 5 Atlanta, Leah Palmirotto, aged 19, plummeted five stories from an abandoned building located on Emory’s Briarcliff campus at 1256 Briarcliff Road, in the early hours of Friday morning.

DeKalb County police indicated that the accident occurred shortly before 1 a.m., after Palmirotto and a group managed to climb over a chain-link fence that enclosed the building. Paramedics arriving at the scene confirmed Palmirotto’s death.

This particular building gained fame as a filming site for the popular series “Stranger Things,” where it served as the fictional Hawkins National Laboratory.

“Exploring such places is perilous, especially when you’re with people you’re not familiar with,” expressed her father, Todd Palmirotto Jr. “We’ve always harbored a fear that something tragic could occur.”

Atlanta’s 11Alive News reports that in 2022, officials said the building, known as “Building A,” would be torn down to make room for an assisted living facility, but it never happened.

Building A had once been the home to the Georgia Mental Health Institute psychiatric hospital, according to WTOC 11. In the 1990s, Emory University bought the structure and, in 2024, vacated it.

The building was one of 40 structures that the school had reportedly rented out to filmmakers.

An investigation remains active, according to police.

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe fundraiser has been set up to help the family with funeral and burial expenses.

[Feature Photo via GoFundMe]