Authorities: Girl's Suicide Can't Be Attributed To Bullying
RIDGE FARM, Ill. (CBS) -- The case is closed on the investigation into the death of a 10-year-old girl in east central Illinois town of Ridge Farm.
As WBBM Newsradio's David Roe reports, Ashlynn Conner was found by a sibling hanging from a scarf in a closet on Nov. 11 of last year.
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Her mother, Stacy Conner, went on to make national headlines. She said her daughter had been bullied for more than a year by her peers at Ridge Farm Elementary School – where she was an honor student – as well as in her neighborhood.
"I thought my kids are strong kids, and that my words for them for guidance and advice was going to have more weight than what these kids could be saying," Stacy Conner told WCIA-TV in November.
Ashlynn asked her mother if she could be home-schooled, but the parent said no. The next day, Ashlynn was found hanged.
But authorities now say bullying might not have been the cause of the girl's suicide.
On Monday, Vermilion County Sheriff Pat Hartshorn officially closed the investigation into the death, and said he would not be pursuing criminal charges against anyone, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Vermilion County Coroner Peggy Johnson ruled Ashlynn's death a suicide, but did not list bullying or harassment as a contributing cause due to a lack of evidence, the Tribune reported.
A 100-page report released to the Tribune tells a story that seems to show a more complex picture about Ashlynn's life than bullying alone could explain.
The report says Ashlynn's grandmother, who resided with Ashlynn's mother and older sister, grabbed a kitchen knife and had to be stopped from slitting her wrists upon finding out that Ashlynn died, the Tribune reported. Stacy Conner told investigators she herself had attempted suicide as a teenager and once more in 2007, the newspaper reported.
The reports also mentioned a boy whom Ashlynn had considered her "boyfriend" since the third grade, and said Ashlynn had threatened suicide in October of last year if the boy broke up with her, the Tribune reported.
The newspaper added that despite what Stacy Conner said, investigators found no evidence that any teacher had told Ashlynn to "stop tattling" in response to her complaints about being bullied.
