Who Was Matthew Alec Cohn? Third Disney World Guest to Die in a Month after Jumping from 12th Floor Was of Hotel Was Aspiring NFL Referee
The third Disney World visitor to die this month has finally been identified, just days after the aspiring football referee allegedly jumped from the 12th floor of a hotel. Matthew Alec Cohn, 28, died by suicide on Thursday at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Photos on his Instagram capture the Winter Garden native proudly wearing his referee uniform, captioned with the hashtag “PathToNFL,” reflecting his dream of one day officiating in the NFL. “Big-time players make big-time plays,” he captioned his final post from September 2024, which showed him confidently blowing his whistle as a player crossed into the end zone. The Instagram account has since been made private.
Mysterious Death
Cohn had spent several years living in Los Angeles, where he appeared to be chasing his dream of becoming a musician. A SoundCloud account under his name features several of his tracks, and he also appeared in Instagram posts for a band called New Shepards, which described itself as an “alternative Christian” group.
He maintained a second Instagram account based in Los Angeles, which is still active.
After his time in LA, Cohn briefly moved to Nashville before eventually returning to Florida, where records show he had been living with his parents in the Orlando suburbs since last year.
He had been largely absent from social media, with no new posts for over a year before his death.
Cohn checked into Disney’s Contemporary Resort on Wednesday night, paying for his room in cash, according to the U.S. Sun. The next day, he tragically jumped to his death from the 12th floor.
Cohn, who had once played high school lacrosse, died from “multiple traumatic injuries,” a spokesperson for the Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office told The New York Post.
Disney Rocked
Cohn’s death was officially ruled a suicide — the second such tragedy to occur at the Contemporary Resort this month. Disney enthusiast Summer Equitz, 31, tragically died earlier this month after traveling alone to Florida from her home in Naperville, Illinois, without informing her family.
Her body was found on October 14.
Just a week later, another guest died at Walt Disney World Resort — less than a mile away from the Contemporary Resort, where the most recent tragedy occurred.
The man in his 60s — whose name has not been released — died after suffering a medical emergency at the Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground area of Walt Disney World, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
