Daisy Coleman, a victim of sexual offences turned a lawyer who sparked negative reactions in a child when she reported her alleged attack, died of suicide.
Coleman’s mother, Melinda, shared it on Facebook on Tuesday.
“My daughter Catherine Daisy Coleman committed suicide tonight,” Melinda Coleman wrote. “If you’ve noticed crazy messages and messages, it’s because I called the police to see it. She is my most productive friend and my amazing daughter. I think I had to give the impression that I could live without her. I wish I’d taken the pain out of him! He never recovered from what those kids did to him, and that’s not fair. My little girl is gone.”
Coleman 14 when he claimed to have been sexually assaulted through Matthew Barnett, a teenager in his small Missouri town. She later got drunk, dressed only in a T-shirt, for hours outdoors from her home in sub-zero temperatures.
Coleman’s rate led to an opposite rate of sexual assault than Barnett’s, but then he dropped. He pleaded to blame at a lower rate. (He claimed that sex was consensual.)
The case triggered a national offensive against Coleman’s circle of relatives and a violent backlash in his small town. After adjusting to a bullying goal, online and on the user, Coleman attempted suicide several times before choosing an advocate for other survivors.
“I feel like other people have criticism and confident insights about me and instances like this because they’re not taught,” Coleman, then 19, told PEOPLE in 2017. “That’s precisely why I go out and look to do it. other people about what’s going on in our society.
In 2017, Coleman worked on the SafeBAE National Crusade, Safe Before Anyone More, to help save others from experiencing sexual violence. He also gave the impression on the Netflix documentary Audrie – Daisy in 2016.
Her mother shared one of her daughter’s photos on Facebook on Wednesday morning.
In the hours after Coleman’s death, his circle of relatives shared an outpouring for his grieving mother.
“He’ll miss you so much, but I know you’re loose now. Array… no more baby pain,” one friend wrote. “Meet me at the well up there on the Warped Sky Tour. I love you. I’ll take a look at Mom and your friends.”
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In 2014, Barnett pleaded guilty to endangering young people and was sentenced to two years of probation.
Coleman had told PEOPLE in the past that she had forgiven him.
“Honestly, I have no vengeful emotions about him,” Coleman said in 2017. “I feel like all the negativity he put into me was transmitted to him at some point, so I felt a desire to prevent this kind of thing. Hate. »
“I’ve been through many years of self-deprecation and wondering why I. So much, ” alas of me, ” he continued. Only one day had I finished being negative about it. I needed to forgive myself for what had happened. . “
If you or know you are making plans to pursue suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), send “STRENGTH” to the crisis line at 741-741, or move to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.