Trigger warning: this post contains distressing content relating to suicide.
Surrounded by her heartbroken parents, siblings, and grandparents, 18-year-old Brandy Vela took her own life just a few days ago.
The tragedy in Texas, USA, came after years of bullying from fellow fears, who tormented her daily for her weight and set-up fake social media accounts in her name.
Just before her death, she sent the following message to her family, apologising for what she was about to do.
Her family rushed to be by her side. Talking to CNN, her 22-year-old sister, Jackie said she was the first one to receive it and immediately raced to get home to save her sister.
When she got there, she recalled hearing someone crying in the house.
"So, I went upstairs and I look in her room, and she's against the wall... And she's just crying and crying. And, I'm like, 'Brandy, please don't. Brandy, no'," she said.
"My dad just yelled, 'Help me, help me, help me'."
Her father, Raul, remembered the horrific experience, begging his daughter.
"She said she’d come too far to turn back. It was very unfortunate that I had to see that. It’s hard when your daughter tells you to turn around. You feel helpless."
According to Jackie, people would never stop harassing Brandy, even going as far to set-up fake dating websites mocking her.
"They would make dating websites of her. They would put her number and put her picture, and lie about her age. They'd say she was giving herself up for sex for free, to call her.
Top Comments
Oh, that's just tragic. There HAS to be a way to deal with these disgusting acts of bullying. I don't believe for one minute that any app is "untraceable". That poor girl and her family.