Florida Schoolgirl Was Bullied For Months Before Tragic Suicide.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say the Florida schoolgirl who recently committed suicide, 12-year-old Rebecca Ann Sedwick, was ganged up and picked on for nearly a year. As many as 15 girls bombarded her with online messages such as “You should die” and “Why don’t you go kill yourself.”

Summer Howard, 19 and Alecia Wilkins, 18, make a poster for Summer's sister Rebecca Sedwick. [AP]
Summer Howard, 19 and Alecia Wilkins, 18, make a poster for Summer’s sister Rebecca [AP]
The bullying started over a “boyfriend issue” last year at Crystal Lake Middle School, Sheriff Grady Judd said. But he gave no details. Police said Rebecca was suspended at one point for fighting with a girl who used to be her friend. Rebecca had been “absolutely terrorized” by the other girls, Judd said. He said detectives found some of her diaries at her home, and she talked of how depressed she was about the situation.
Rebecca couldn’t take it anymore. She changed one of her online screen names to “That Dead Girl.” She messaged a boy in North Carolina: “I’m jumping.” And then, on Monday, the Lakeland girl went to an abandoned concrete plant, climbed a tower and hurled herself to her death. The tragic case illustrates, once more, the ways in which youngsters are using the Internet to torment others.
Her writings would break your heart
Authorities have seized computers and cellphones from some of the girls as they decide whether to bring charges in what appeared to be the nation’s latest deadly cyberbullying case. ”There is a lot of digital drama. Middle-school kids are horrible to each other, especially girls,” said Perry Aftab, a New Jersey-based lawyer and expert on cyberbullying.
Last December, Rebecca was hospitalized for three days after cutting her wrists because of what she said was bullying, according to the sheriff. Later, after Rebecca complained that she had been pushed in the hallway and that another girl wanted to fight her, Rebecca’s mother began home-schooling her in Lakeland, a city of about 100,000 midway between Tampa and Orlando, Judd said.
Polk County Sheriff personnel investigating the death of 12-year-old girl, Rebecca Ann Sedwick, at an old cement plant in Lakeland, Fla. [AP]
Polk County Sheriff personnel investigate the death of Rebecca, at an old cement plant in Lakeland, Fla. [AP]
This fall, Rebecca started at a new school, Lawton Chiles Middle Academy, and loved it, Judd said. But the bullying continued online. ”She put on a perfect, happy face. She never told me,” Rebecca’s mother, Tricia Norman, told the Lakeland Ledger. “I never had a clue. I mean, she told me last year when she was being bullied, but not this year, and I have no idea why.”
After Rebecca’s suicide, police looked at her computer and found search queries such as “what is overweight for a 13-year-old girl,” ”how to get blades out of razors,” and “how many over-the-counter drugs do you take to die.” One of her screensavers also showed Rebecca with her head resting on a railroad track.
Police said that she had met the North Carolina boy at an airport and that they had remained friends online. The 12-year-old boy didn’t tell anyone about the “I’m jumping, I can’t take it anymore” message he received from her on Monday morning, shortly before her suicide, authorities said.