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Daisy Coleman, Survivor of 2012 Missouri Rape Case, Dies by Suicide

HeadlineAug 06, 2020

Daisy Coleman, a high school sexual assault survivor who was featured in the documentary “Audrie & Daisy,” has died at the age of 23 by suicide. She was raped at 14 by a 17-year-old high school football player with political connections while another student took videos.

Charges were initially brought and dropped against the boys accused of assaulting Daisy and videotaping it. When Daisy’s mother, Melinda, began to raise questions, she lost her job. The family’s house in Maryville, Missouri, mysteriously burned to the ground. Daisy says she was suspended from the cheerleading squad and incessantly bullied. She was hounded on social media, called a skank and a liar, and urged to kill herself, which she tried to do multiple times.

Daisy Coleman would go on to become an advocate for sexual assault victims. In 2016, Democracy Now! interviewed her at the Sundance Film Festival.

Daisy Coleman: “I almost believe that this whole situation did strip me of being, you know, human and what I used to be. But I believe that as it stripped me of everything that I used to be, I was able to start from a new building block and build on to someone else. And I think that really shaped who I am today. And I feel like — you know, I think I’m a force to be reckoned with, with Maryville now. I don’t think they’re going to be getting away with everything that they do now.”

On Wednesday, Daisy’s mother wrote, “She never recovered from what those boys did to her and it’s just not fair. My baby girl is gone.” Click here to see our full interview with Daisy and her mother.

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