Inside the Untold Story of ’90s Model Krissy Taylor’s Death at 17

In the late ’80s and early ’90s, you couldn’t crack a teen magazine without seeing pictures of supermodel Niki Taylor, who got her start modeling at age 13.

In 1990, her younger sister Kristen “Krissy” Taylor followed in her footsteps, and at the time, the blonde, leggy sisters from Pembroke Pines, Fla., were in constant demand for brands like L’Oreal.

Then, on July 2, 1995, it tragically came to an end when Niki found Krissy, just 17, unresponsive and lying face down near the front door at their parents’ home in the early hours of the morning. Niki, who was 20 at the time, immediately called 911.

“She’s not breathing . . . she has bruises on her face, and she’s cold,” Niki frantically told the operator. Their dad, Ken, performed CPR, desperately trying to revive his daughter.

“Her chest is not rising. Nothing is happening. We need somebody here now!'” Niki told the operator. CPR was continued as the young model was rushed to Memorial Hospital West, where, at 5:39 a.m., she was pronounced dead.

A Shocking Loss

The news of Krissy’s death shocked the world, and especially those who knew her. She was a famous model, yes, but by all accounts, she was also just a lowkey teen who had gone to her last prom, and spent her free time rollerskating, jet-skiing and line dancing with her besties, who dubbed themselves the Redneck Girls.

She turned down jobs overseas, and she never traveled without a chaperone. Her parents, Barbara and Ken, would always accompany her on shoots and make sure the clothing wasn’t too revealing. “I know Barbara has been criticized for being a stage mom,” the editor of Seventeen told PEOPLE at the time. “But to me, this was the way the family showed they loved and cared about the girls.”

What Happened?

Following Krissy’s mysterious death, and in the absence of toxicology reports, rumors spread quickly. In New York, fashion insiders postulated privately that, in the hours before she died, she might have been using Primatene Mist, a nonprescription asthma remedy, to get an over-the-counter high.

Others wondered whether she had coped with stress by abusing alcohol or drugs, and whether her parents, Barbara, 48, and Ken, 54, had pressured her into a life before the cameras. But close friends insisted she didn’t even drink.

“She was the most normal, down-to-earth person you can imagine,” neighbor Jennifer Strom, 17, told PEOPLE at the time. “Her favorite thing was baking chocolate chip cookies with her mom and watching Grease.” Added Krissy’s best friend, Melissa Bucci: “If you had something negative to say about Kristen, you didn’t know her.”

Rumors of an eating disorder were also rampant. But that too was disputed by those who knew her best, with her circle insisting she was comfortable with her body and that she had a healthy relationship with food.

As for her plans for the future, she wasn’t interested in modeling for the long term. “She wanted to be a housewife,” friends told PEOPLE.

The Final Findings

Police eventually ruled out foul play after a July 3 autopsy report (which found that the bruises resulted from Krissy’s fall) said there was “no evidence of natural disease or significant injury.”

According to her physician, Dr. William Bruno, “[Kristen] was not a sick person.”

Later, news reports would focus on the Primatene, a medication containing an adrenaline-like drug that stimulates the heart as well as the lungs. According to manufacturer Whitehall-RobinsHealthcare (which tested inhalers from the same batch as Krissy’s and found no contaminants), Primatene had been suspected as a factor in only three deaths since the 1970s, a company spokeswoman, Carol Dornbush, told PEOPLE.

After further testing, it was determined that Krissy’s cause of death was from a rare and undiagnosed heart condition called Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia (ARVD).

According to the Cleveland Clinic, the condition ARVD is a rare genetic condition that affects your heart when fat or fibrous tissue replaces damaged heart muscle in your right ventricle. That heart chamber stretches out, becomes thin and contracts poorly. As a result, the heart can’t pump blood as well. This makes it hard to breathe and may make you faint or feel your heart flutter.

It affects between 1 in 2000 to 1 in 5000 people and often goes undetected. It can run in families, but not always. This condition is the reason some young athletes have sudden cardiac arrest.

Nearly two decades after Krissy’s death, Niki reflected on the profound impact of losing her sister during an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

“The biggest tragedy and loss in my life was losing my little sister,” she said in 2014. “We were very close. We worked together. We did everything together. I miss her very much.”