After months of harassment at school and online, Destiny Gleason, 14, was found dead in her bedroom last week.
The teen from Warrington, Missouri, hanged herself with an extension cord after reading “mean” Facebook posts about her, according to her mother.
Gleason’s parents told the local Fox news station that the bullying had escalated recently into a fight, and Gleason was arrested and charged with assault. After the arrest, Gleason discovered the Facebook posts and took her own life.
According to her mother, Stephanie Clark, Destiny just wanted to be liked. She added that even though the school was aware of the bullying, it only intensified as the school year went on. Clark told Fox2 St. Louis, “At one point, they took some photo of some random person’s private parts and put Destiny’s name across it and spread it around the school. Anything they could possibly do to hurt her and bring her down.”
The school had no comment about the case, but the district superintendent told Fox2 that the school takes bullying “very seriously.”
A GoFund me page has been set up by a friend of the family to help the Clarks with funeral costs and medical expenses. The friend describes Destiny as “beautiful and talented” and that she “was sassy in the best possible way.”
For more information about suicide prevention or to speak with someone confidentially, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (U.S.) or Samaritans (U.K.).
