A 15-year-old girl who was bullied by classmates for years has killed herself after naming her tormenters in a suicide note and telling them: ‘Thanks for all the pain.’
Cora Delille’s body was found by a family member at their home in Pickerington, Ohio on May 10 after she hanged herself, Commander Matt Delp of Pickerington Police said.
She left an emotional note giving a ‘myriad of reasons’ why she took her life, including classmates calling her names and feeling abandoned by her father and stepfather, he told MailOnline.
‘There were complex issues,’ Delp explained. ‘She wrote about her home life and feeling unloved. Her mother and stepfather – the father she had known for 14 years – were getting a divorce. Her boyfriend had broken up with her the day before. There were many reasons.’
Authorities interviewed the four students who were named in the letter, but did not find any conduct worthy of prosecution, he said. There was also no evidence of bullying on social networks, he added.
‘She was the victim of some name calling,’ he explained. ‘While it’s troublesome, it doesn’t warrant bringing charges against the students.’
Close friends said that Cora mostly kept the torment to herself, and her parents said they had no idea the extent to which she was suffering.
‘She mentioned here and there when kids made fun of her,’ her mother, Amy Hall, told the Columbus Dispatch. ‘She didn’t clue me in to how bad it was.’
Friends said that students would make passing digs at her in the hallways at school and at lunch, while others said they heard girls calling Cora names at the spring dance recently.
The day before she killed herself, she phoned her best friend Sydney Teal in tears.
‘She said she couldn’t take much more,’ Sydney told the Dispatch. ‘I didn’t know what to do. I told her I loved her and that I’m here for her.’
Since her death, a friend has heard a student at school say she was happy that Cora was dead, while bullies have also cropped up online, writing insulting words beneath her photographs.
‘I’ve yet to work with anyone who is going to ignore outright bullying when it’s taking place,’ Superintendent Rob Walker told the Dispatch. ‘Can it happen and the teacher not hear it? Yes.’
Her mother, who remembered her daughter as fun-loving and a caring big sister to her younger siblings, hopes that other teenagers will get help before it’s too late.
‘A lot of other kids are suffering,’ her mother said. ‘They need to know there are other people out there to help. They don’t need to keep it inside.’
Cora’s funeral, led by her grandfather Pastor Roger Epperson, was held on Wednesday.
Commander Delp said the investigation into her death is now closed.
