Friends: Online Bullying Led To Student's Suicide
Jessica Marie Laney died Sunday, and now her friends are asking why anonymous social media sites remain online.
Fivay High School student Jessica Marie Laney, 16, committed suicide Sunday night, according to authorities.
She was found at her home in Hudson. Pasco Sheriff’s Office spokesman Doug Tobin said authorities took her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 11:26 p.m.
Her friends have said she was bullied online.
Tobin says the agency isn’t aware of any formal complaints about bullying. The school district isn’t either, but officials say they are doing a thorough review. The sheriff’s office is classifying the death as a suicide, but it is continuing to investigate it. Deputies are talking to family and close friends and reviewing social media sites on which Jessica had a presence.
Tobin says it’s important for parents to be aware of what their children, even older children like Jessica, are doing online.
“Who knows who they’re talking to and what damage can be done?” he said.
Jessica had an account on Ask.fm, a social media website that allows for anonymous commenting. Users of Ask.fm set up profiles on the site, and other users can ask questions or leave comments.
Some of the comments on Jessica’s Ask.fm account (jessicamarieee1) are mundane or positive. Some are upsetting.
“Die,” reads one anonymous comment left six days ago.
“Maybe later I'm to busy focusing on my future," is her response.
“Can you just kill youself already,” reads an anonymous comment left five days ago.
“Why.." is Jessica’s response.
“Nobody even cares about you,” reads another anonymous comment left five days ago.
“Yes they do,” is her response.
In the wake of Jessica's death, a petition asking Ask.fm to have it taken down has arisen on Change.org.
P.J. Moccaldi, a freshman at Fivay, was friends with Jessica for years. He says comments "must have" played a role in her death. There's no reason for anonymous commenting, he said.
P.J. has created a Facebook page in memory of Jessica, RIP Jessica Laney Never Forgotten, where people can share thoughts about her. He said she was funny and outgoing.
"She taught me the right way to kick a soccer ball," he said.
P.J urges people on the Facebook page to sign the petition to stop Ask.fm.
In another post on the page, he writes:
Remember what you say to people you never know the outcome countless lives have been takin from bullys
Jessica had threatened hurting herself before, according to authorities. She threatened to hang herself on July 26, 2011, if she was not allowed to leave her home. She was taken into custody under the Baker Act.
Brittany Hasemeier, Jessica's friend since seventh grade, said she spoke to Jessica the night of her death.
"She was happy. She was fine," she said. "She seemed completely normal."
Brittany "bawled her eyes out" after learning of Jessica's death Monday.
Jessica played soccer, her friends said. She rode horses. She had friends over to her house. She attended Hudson Middle, then Hudson High and then Fivay.
Kylee Hullstrung, who also knew Jessica, said she "was a great friend." She said Ask.fm "should be taken down."
Do you monitor your children when they're online?
pillou812
10:30 pm on Tuesday, December 11, 2012
maybe this can shine a light on the fact that many childrens mental health issues go miss diagnosed from doctors that are quick to use them as testers for medications creating drug addicts or they lock them up and teach them no life skills or how to deal with the mental illness
pillou812
10:31 pm on Tuesday, December 11, 2012
but it wont they will blame it on bullying its easier
Diane Carlstrom
4:11 pm on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
pillou812 Welcome to Floriduh! We don't want no socialised medicine or any of them nasty workers unions!! Those in charge know exactly what we need and when we need it! Our local mental health consists of the Harbor where you can stay for 3 days regardless of severity of illness, get put out on the street and told to fill a script (and with what pray tell) and to return in 2 weeks.
Then we have the myth that every kid has adhd. Some do and really need help offered but many don't. MH are the first servives on the chopping block and the last to be reinstated (but gotta make sure all workers are masters or above) and then want to pay them next to nothing..
On the other hand, bullying is a huge issue and while the kids being picked on may have issues the ones doing so probably have more. They have to learn it somewhere after all.
Irene Patino
8:52 am on Friday, December 14, 2012
It isn't the bullying that kills. It is the state of depression one slides into that can cause thoughts/attempts of suicide. The depression is something that is caused by a lack of personal support, confidence in ones self , the ability to recognize bullying, the training to refuse to be bullied, and the fear of reporting it. People that commit suicide feel hopeless and believe that death is the only way to stop the pain they are experiencing.
Irene Patino
8:56 am on Friday, December 14, 2012
There are always signs even when we think there aren't. Take the time to talk to your children rather than at them. Listen to what they have to say. Teach them to be assertive rather than innocent bystanders or passive in life. You brought them into this world now show them how to deal with it,
Irene Patino
9:04 am on Friday, December 14, 2012
I've been trying to get in to see the school super to no avail. I keep getting passed down the line and put off. I'm a retired teacher w/20 years experience in the classroom and I have a community wide program to reduce/eliminate bullying and suicide that is better than anything we have now. Meanwhile, our kids keep bullying and dying.
merissa
11:06 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
There is no reason this very pretty young teen needed to die I didn't know her but my brother sage did anyone.e who messed with her are idiots how would they like it if someone tlked about them really!!!!!!!!
merissa
11:10 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Jessica laney will be missed even by me and I don't even know her